


La Vida Loca

by BeccaBear93



Series: All Together Now [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Hate Speech, Homophobia, M/M, Meet the Family, Mild Sexual Content, Moving, Multi, Polyamory, Sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 14:34:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 36,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6474208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaBear93/pseuds/BeccaBear93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Signe have moved to L.A. to be with Mark. They're ecstatic to all finally be together, but there's trouble brewing in paradise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, it's time to admit it: all of my titles are utter bullshit that I don't think of until the moment I'm posting the fic.
> 
> Aside from that, here's the sequel I promised. I debated posting this yet, but I figured I've left you guys waiting long enough. I will warn you that I have no idea how often it will be updated, though (except that the second chapter will go up in a week because it's already written). I just started my hardest quarter yet and am actually designing and running a psychological experiment and writing six papers and giving two presentations (one of each is also in Spanish). It's going to be an absolutely insane quarter. Not that anyone cares about all that, but I thought it would be a good idea to warn you now, in case anybody wants to skip over this fic, or just read it whenever it's finished. Moving on!

“You look chipper,” Matt comments when Mark enters the kitchen in the morning. He returns to eating his cereal, then does a double take. Shocked, he adds, “And… you’re fully dressed.”

“Yep.” He gets some yogurt and leans against the counter to eat it. Pointing his spoon at Matt, he says, “That reminds me. I need to make sure Ryan actually wears pants today.”

“Is it really worth the effort?” the other man asks skeptically. Mark raises an eyebrow pointedly, and his eyes light up with the realization after a few seconds. “Oh! Today’s the day, isn’t it?”

Mark hums in confirmation, trying and failing to hide his grin.

Matt gives him a fond smile and laughs a bit. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Ryan. You just do whatever last-minute stuff you need to get ready.”

“Thanks, Matt,” Mark says, beaming at him. He finishes his breakfast and finishes cleaning all the little stuff he hadn’t gotten to the day before. Once he’s satisfied that the house looks decent, he heads to the office, where there are boxes piled in one corner. Scrolling through the notes he’s left himself on his phone, he stops at the list Signe had sent him a few days ago and quickly loses himself in the task of checking all the labels on the boxes.

Eventually, there’s a knock on the door, and Mark all but runs to answer it, ignoring Matt’s knowing smirk. For a moment he worries that maybe it’s just a FedEx worker or something, but when he opens the door, he’s greeted with the two people he’s been waiting for so impatiently. They look positively giddy, and he doesn’t doubt that he does, too.

Mark waves them in, beaming. “Sorry I couldn’t pick you up at the airport, I was making sure all your things were together. I think it all arrived safely, but you might want to count the boxes and double-check.”

Jack shrugs. “We sent some stuff last minute, so we’ll wait a while to go through everything.”

“Alright,” Mark says. “God, I can’t believe you’re finally here.” He grins and gives Jack a quick kiss, then hovers awkwardly over Signe. They’ve been talking for about six months now and have technically been together for about two, and it suddenly hits him how strange it is that they haven’t met face-to-face in all that time. He doesn’t know if it would be okay to kiss her yet.

Signe rolls her eyes and pulls him into a hug, whispering, “How many times do we have to tell you, Mark? Whatever you are or aren’t comfortable with is fine.”

He smiles and pecks her cheek, whispering back his thanks. When he moves away, he sees Jack looking at them suspiciously. “What’s all this whispering about, huh?”

Mark glances at Signe out of the corner of his eye, and they both shrug and smirk. Jack makes an indignant sound, but it quickly dissolves into laughter, and the other two join him after a moment.

“Jack, babe! You’re here!” a voice suddenly calls from behind Mark. He turns just in time to see Ryan rush past him and engulf Jack in a hug, which he returns with a bright laugh.

Mark raises an eyebrow at Matt, who shrugs. “Hey, I made him put pants on. That was all I promised.”

“Fair enough,” he says, chuckling. “Oh, I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we all go out for lunch in a while? Unless you two have things you need to get settled, of course.”

Signe glances at Jack, and they seem to hold a silent conversation before turning back to Mark with simultaneous shrugs. “Nothing that can’t wait,” she answers. “It’d be great to hang out with all of you finally.”

“Awesome!” Ryan cheers, one arm still wrapped around Jack’s shoulders. After a moment, he seems to remember something and jumps away to offer a hand to Signe. “By the way, nice to finally meet you in the flesh.”

She smiles and shakes his hand. “You too, Ryan. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ve heard a lot about you too,” he says, smirking towards Mark. Mark makes a shrill noise of protest, but Signe just giggles.

“Anyways,” Mark cuts in, shooting a glare at Ryan. “We should let you guys get moved in, and we can meet back here in a few hours. I can help carry boxes if you want.”

“I think we’ll be fine,” Jack says with a smile, but when Mark’s face falls a bit, he realizes it was an attempt to get some time with them away from his housemates. “Er, on second thought, there were some big ones that might be hard to carry on our own, huh?”

“Yeah, some of them are pretty heavy,” Mark agrees, smiling. “Here, I’ll show you where they are.” He leads them into the office, and takes one side of the biggest box. Jack takes the other side, grunting as they lift it, and Signe grabs a smaller one that she can carry on her own. The boys struggle out the doorway, and Mark pauses in the hall with a laugh. “Let’s just pile things into my car. I don’t think we’ll be able to carry all of these all the way to your place.”

“Sounds good,” Jack says, voice strained. “Can we get moving, though?”

“Oh, right! Sorry!” Mark answers, continuing to walk backwards. Signe runs ahead to hold the door open, and he nods his thanks to her. When they make it to the car, he stops again. “Uh, hold on, I just need to grab my keys. Let’s set this down for a second.”

Before he can put the box down, though, Signe is at his side, grinning cheekily. “Shirt pocket?” she asks, eying it. Mark shakes his head, and she giggles. “Didn’t think so.” Then her hand is in the back pocket of his jeans, and although it’s gone just as quickly, he can’t help the surprised squeak that escapes him.

Signe opens the car door, and Jack guffaws at Mark as they push the box into the back seat. “The look on your face is fuckin’ ridiculous, dude!”

“Well excuse me!” Mark says, faking offense. “I just wasn’t aware that our girlfriend was quite so bold!”

She’s still grinning at him with faux innocence, but it melts into something more genuine at the statement. “I like that,” she says quietly.

“What?” Mark asks, eyebrows scrunching in confusion.

“‘Our girlfriend.’ I like that,” she repeats.

“So do I,” Jack says, wrapping an arm around each of them and kissing Signe’s cheek. “You know what else I like?”

“What’s that?” Signe asks, though she’s smiling like she already knows.

“Our boyfriend.” His eyes dart to make sure that nobody’s around, then he gives Mark a quick kiss on the cheek, too.

“Aww, you’re such a sap,” Mark teases. After a moment, though, he leans to whisper, “I love you,” delighting in Jack’s blush.

Signe coos at them and says, “Yeah, I guess I like him, too.”

“You _guess_?” Mark asks, affronted. She sticks her tongue out at him, but just a second later she’s kissing him like an apology. It’s their first real kiss, but before he can even process it, she’s gone, heading back to the house to grab the next box. Jack laughs at Mark’s dumbfounded look and squeezes his shoulder before following her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh... Surprise? Early chapter!

When they finally get the last box into the house, Mark heaves a sigh, flopping down straight on the floor since they don’t have any furniture yet.

“Don’t get comfy yet,” Jack says, checking the time on his phone. “It’s just about time for lunch.”

Mark groans and lets Jack help him up. “I don’t wanna share you guys,” he says, pouting exaggeratedly.

The other man just chuckles and gives him a quick kiss. Then he leads him out of the house rather than bothering to argue. They meet Signe outside and she asks, “So where are we going?”

Mark hums in thought. “Oh! Do you like sushi? There’s a place the boys and I go that’s pretty good.”

“Sure,” Jack answers with a shrug.

“I’ve never tried it,” Signe admits sheepishly.

“Well, now’s as good a time as any, right? We’ll get you something good,” Mark promises with a smile. Eying his car skeptically, he says, “I’ll just text them to meet us. It wouldn’t be a very comfortable ride if I tried to drive all of us.”

“It’s fine; I can just sit on Ryan’s lap,” Jack teases. Signe snickers, and Mark just rolls his eyes and pulls his phone out of his pocket.

\-----

“This is a momentous day,” Ryan proclaims dramatically, “And not just because this sushi is fucking amazing.”

“It is, though,” Jack says.

“Oh, definitely,” Ryan agrees. “But at least as amazing as the food is the fact that my babe is finally in L.A.!”

“Oh right, there’s that too,” Jack says with a laugh.

“We should document this with a selfie.”

“Alright,” he concedes, scooting closer to Ryan in the booth. Ryan holds his phone above their heads and puckers his lips. Jack turns his own head enough to look like he’s leaning into it, though he’s really blocking the fact that Ryan’s lips aren’t actually touching his cheek. They snap the picture and dissolve into giggles as Ryan tweets it out with a suggestive comment. “I wonder how everyone will react to that.”

Ryan shrugs. “They won’t react much. Maybe a few jokes, but they’re mostly too busy tracking every move that you two make,” he says, gesturing between Jack and Mark. More seriously, he adds, “They’re going to really catch on sooner or later, you know. All the hints will be too much, or you won’t be careful enough and a fan will catch you holding hands or kissing in public.”

“We’ll deal with that when it comes to it,” Mark insists, frowning. “It’s Jack and Signe’s first day living in America; can’t we just enjoy that for now?”

“Hey man, I’m not trying to ruin your day or anything,” Ryan answers, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m just warning you to be careful if you aren’t ready to come out.”

Mark sighs. “I know. Sorry.”

“Well, let’s just put that aside for now,” Signe cuts in, trying to break the tension. “In the meantime, we’ve got a delicious lunch to eat, and then you all should show us around town.”

“I don’t think we can show you all of L.A. in a day,” Matt says, laughing, “But I’m sure we can put together a bit of a tour.”

“Great!” she says, clapping her hands together. They get into a conversation about the tourist spots, which eventually turns into just getting to know each other. After a while, the other three join in, and the uncomfortable atmosphere melts away.

\-----

“That was so much fun,” Signe says with a content sigh when Mark drops them off. He’s leaning against the car, and she stands on her tiptoes to kiss him.

He’s a bit more prepared this time and actually kisses her back. One hand rests on her hip and the other twines lightly into her hair. It feels natural somehow, despite the fact that this is the first day they’ve really been together, and he can’t help but smile into the kiss. He can feel Signe mirroring the expression, until a quiet sound makes them pull apart.

“Ahem,” Jack says, trying to hide his laughter and act stern.

“Aww, baby, don’t be jealous,” Signe coos teasingly. She moves to kiss him, too, and he falls into it easily.

Jack wraps his arms around Signe’s waist, pulling her closer, and she lays her own hands on his chest. After a few moments, they separate, but their foreheads remain together. Signe lets out a quiet laugh and mouths, ‘Love you,’ and Jack beams, holding her even tighter.

Mark watches the entire exchange, and though he can’t deny feeling slightly jealous, it’s almost completely overshadowed by a sudden lightness at seeing them both so happy. Jack catches his eye over Signe’s head, and gestures him over with a short nod. Mark obeys, moving closer and engulfing them both in an enormous hug. “I love you both so much,” he says, and the words will never amount to even a fraction of the tightness in his chest or the absolute awe that they can all be together like this.

“I love you, too,” Signe whispers. Jack just leans his head on Mark’s shoulder and nods into it with a sappy smile.

Mark swallows, and after a few seconds, he reluctantly lets them go. “I should head home now,” he says. “Have a good night.”

The other two are quick to hide their disappointment, but for just a moment, he manages to catch their frowns. Somehow, it’s reassuring to know that he isn’t the only one who doesn’t want to leave.

They say their goodbyes and head for the house, but Mark stays to watch after them until they make it to the door. Just as Jack is about to unlock it, he pauses. “…Oh.”

“What’s wrong?” Signe asks.

“Umm…” He hesitates for a moment, then turns back to Mark rather than explaining. “Hey, Mark? Uh, we don’t really have a bed still. Or a couch. Or anything. Do you think we could stay at your place, just for tonight?”

He looks guilty about having to ask, but Mark just grins, feeling strangely relieved. “Of course. That sounds great.”

“Thanks,” Jack says with a grateful smile. “Just give us a second to grab our bags. We already had some clothes and stuff ready in case we didn’t get a chance to unpack today.” They disappear into the house for a minute before returning with a suitcase each.

“Thank you, Mark,” Signe says as she walks back to the car, squeezing Mark’s hand before climbing into the passenger seat. Jack sits in the back, giving her a childish pout and gently kicking the back of her seat. She just smirks at him in the mirror as they start driving.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as they walk through the door, Jack is abducted by Ryan and Matt again. They’re playing a video game (a very competitive one, if all the swearing is any indication), and they invite Mark and Signe to join them. Mark declines in favor of helping her to sneak out of the chaos.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?” she asks. Mark gestures her to the bathroom connected to his bedroom, and she wanders in after digging some clothes and toiletries out of her bag.

Mark considers joining the boys for a few minutes but ends up giving into exhaustion, deciding he’d rather just sit in his room and read than face that insanity right now.

After Signe showers, she walks out just wearing one of Jack’s too-long shirts, and for some reason, Mark finds himself grinning and blushing to the tips of his ears. He stands up to meet her, taking her hands in his own and pressing a long kiss to her lips.

“What was that for?” she asks when they part, but she’s smiling.

“You’re just too adorable and sexy,” he practically growls in her ear, and she flushes.

“What? But I don’t have any makeup on, and I’m just wearing my nightshirt. It’s not like it’s lingerie or something,” she says with a laugh.

Mark shakes his head. “You’re always sexy. And the shirt is actually kind of part of it,” he admits.

“Oh really?” Signe asks, looking down at herself. When she looks back up, she’s smirking. “Maybe I should start wearing one of your flannels to bed. They do look very comfy.”

He considers the suggestion, picturing her in one of his shirts. “I would be more than okay with that,” he agrees. “But I’m also more than okay with you in Jack’s shirts.”

“I noticed,” she says with a giggle. She stands up on her tiptoes to kiss him again, but pulls back when they hear the door open.

“Oh?” Jack questions, waggling his eyebrows. “What was I missing out on in here?”

“We were just discussing how amazing our girlfriend looks in your clothes, and how amazing she would look in mine,” Mark answers.

Jack looks Signe up and down with a grin. “I agree,” he says, giving them each a quick peck. He rummages through his suitcase to find a pair of pajama pants while Mark sits back down on the bed. He balls them up, twisting them around his hands while he watches Mark, hesitating.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked, forehead scrunching in worry.

“Uh, well… Should I just wait until Ryan and Matt go to sleep, and take the couch?”

Mark laughs and reaches a hand out. When Jack takes it, he pulls him down onto the bed next to him. “You’re going to be right here. I wouldn’t make you sleep on the couch, dumbass,” he says, though it comes out much more fond than insulting.

Jack chuckles nervously. “Okay. I just… It’s been a while, and I didn’t want to assume, y’know?”

Mark shakes his head. “Go ahead and assume all you want. That goes for you too,” he adds, looking to Signe. She just smiles and nods. He turns back to Jack to ask, “Are you actually ready to sleep already?”

He shrugs. “It’s been a busy day, and I am jet-lagged as all fuck.”

“Alright. I’m pretty tired, too. How about you, Signe?”

She nods again, unable to restrain a yawn. “Definitely.”

“’Kay. I’m just gonna get ready real fast.” For some reason, he’s nervous to change in front of them, despite the fact that they’ve both seen him completely exposed before (although in Signe’s case, it was because she accidentally walked in on an…intimate Skype session). He opts for changing into his pajama pants in the bathroom instead.

When he returns, their girlfriend is already under the covers to one side of the bed. Jack has decided to just strip down to his boxers since he won’t be in the open space of the house, and he quickly hops onto the other side. Mark is surprised when they look to him with matching grins and gesture for him to take the middle. He flips the lights off and carefully crawls onto the bed, feeling around to make sure he doesn’t accidentally kneel on anyone’s hand or leg. Once he’s settled, the other two scoot closer, cuddling up and resting their heads on his chest and shoulder. Mark laughs quietly and gets an arm around each of them as best he can without making it uncomfortable. It isn’t surprising that he drifts off quickly surrounded by their warmth.


	4. Chapter 4

Mark wakes up to find that Jack has rolled over in his sleep, one arm and leg flung halfway off the bed. Signe, on the other hand, is still cuddled up with him. Her hair has fallen over her face, shaking slightly with each breath. He smiles fondly and gently tucks it behind her ear, watching as her eyes flutter open. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispers. “It’s okay, just go back to sleep.”

Signe shakes her head and snuggles even closer. “You’re warm,” she murmurs.

“I won’t leave,” he promises. “Go back to sleep.”

She shakes her head again and, after another minute, sighs and sits up. Mark tries and fails to hold back a grin as she blinks sleepily at him, hair mussed and shirt twisted awkwardly around her body. She shimmies uncomfortably and adjusts it before turning her attention to Jack, laughing quietly at the way he’s sprawled out. “We’re both awake; we should make him get up, too.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t just let him sleep?” Mark asks, feeling a bit guilty at the thought of waking their boyfriend up.

Signe shrugs it off, answering, “He’ll just be mad at himself if he sleeps in. He’ll think that he wasted the day when he could have been doing something productive.” Her wary expression suggests that it’s a conversation they’ve had more times than she’d like.

“That does sound like him,” Mark says with a sigh. He raises a questioning eyebrow at her. “Should I make coffee first?”

She nods with a giggle. “He just might hit us if we wake him up _without_ it.”

“Thought so. Do you want any?” He asks, standing up. He grabs his clothes and waits in the doorway to the bathroom for her answer.

Signe hums in thought, eventually nodding. “Sure, that sounds good. Thanks.”

When Mark emerges from the bathroom after changing and doing his hair, Signe is in the middle of changing too. Her pants are already on, but her top half is only covered by a black lacy bra. Mark blushes and averts his eyes quickly, hurrying out of the room and to the kitchen. He starts the coffee maker, and Signe appears a minute later.

“You’re such a gentleman,” she says as she slides next to him, giggling.

“Ah, so… You knew I was there?” he asks, willing his blush to disappear.

She nods, leaning up to whisper, “It’s okay, Mark. If you’re worried about me being uncomfortable, I’m not. And if _I’m_ making _you_ uncomfortable, all you have to do is tell me.” She finishes by kissing his ear before backing away a bit.

“That’s not it. I mean, you’re _gorgeous_ , and I certainly don’t _mind_ —er.” He cuts himself off, rethinking his words, though Signe just looks slightly flattered. “You’re just constantly surprising me, and it makes me a bit… flustered,” he finishes with a laugh.

She shrugs. “Well, it still stands. Tell me if I ever go too far or say or do something you don’t like, okay? I don’t want to push you away.”

She looks a bit nervous, so Mark squeezes her hand in reassurance. “It’s _really_ not that,” he insists. She gives him a scolding look and opens her mouth, so he adds, “But I promise I’ll tell you if I’m ever uncomfortable.”

“Good,” Signe says, nodding decisively. She squeezes back tightly before dropping his hand and stepping back. “Coffee’s almost done. Where are your cups?” Mark gestures to the cupboard over the sink, and she peers in. “Any restrictions? Are some of these Matt or Ryan’s?”

He shrugs and grabs some creamer from the fridge. “It doesn’t really matter. We all just use whatever’s clean.”

“Sounds good to me,” she says, setting three mugs down on the counter.

When the coffee finishes, Mark pours some into each of the cups, then pauses. “I know Jack likes his black, but how do you take yours?”

“Creamer, please,” Signe answers. She rolls her eyes and adds, “I know, I know—‘girly drink,’ ‘it’s not really coffee’… Say whatever you want, black coffee is disgusting.”

Mark lets her splash some creamer in her cup, then shares a secretive smile with her as he dumps twice as much into his own. She gives a quiet laugh and playfully bumps into his shoulder. They silently sneak down the hall and back into Mark’s room, and Signe gestures for him to stay back. She sends him an evil grin before running and jumping onto the bed.

“What the fuck?!” Jack yells, jumping and looking around with wild eyes.

Signe quickly backs up before she can be hit by his flailing limbs, holding her hands up in a placating manner. “You can’t kill me!” she rushes out. “We brought you coffee!”

Jack blinks at her, then at Mark who is carefully holding all three cups, then back at Signe again. “Why you…” he starts. She attempts to jump off the bed, but he manages to snatch her wrist and pull her back down. She shrieks and laughs as he tickles her sides mercilessly, until she finally manages to roll onto the floor.

After they’ve calmed down a bit, Mark hands them each their cups, looking extremely amused. Jack takes a sip of his and sighs happily. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?” he jokes.

Mark laughs and sits down next to him. “Once or twice, but I could stand to hear it again.”

“Well, I do,” Jack reiterates, kissing him. He pulls away with a face when he remembers his own morning breath, but Mark just smiles and pulls him back for a longer kiss. When they part, Jack turns his attention back to Signe, who is standing out of his reach. “And I suppose I love you, too, even if you are the devil in disguise.”

“Love you too,” she counters with an angelic smile. Jack just groans.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” Mark asks, partially because he’s actually curious and partially to stop this from turning into an entirely too adorable ‘fight.’

Jack looks to Signe, who just shrugs. “I guess we should buy some furniture.”

“Probably a good idea,” Mark agrees. “Do you want help?”

Jack shakes his head. “I think we can handle it. Besides, you probably have other stuff to do, right?”

He gives an exaggerated sigh but concedes, “Yeah, I’m behind on videos. I should probably spend some extra time recording today.”

Mark tries not to let his disappointment show, but Signe must catch onto it because she sits down next to him and says, “Hey, we’ve got unlimited time now. We’re here for good.”

He smiles and takes her hand, stroking his thumb over the back of it. “You’re right. It’s just so easy to forget that; I’m not used to it,” he admits with a laugh.

Signe leans against his shoulder, humming in understanding, and after a minute, he feels Jack’s weight against his other side. They sit in silence for a while, drinking their coffee and putting off their separation for as long as justifiably possible. Eventually, though, the other two leave and Mark heads to the office.

\-----

He’s in the middle of a horror game when the door opens, making him jump. He glances up from the monitor and takes a moment to be glad that he doesn’t record with the lights off anymore, because Signe’s silhouette in the light from the hall would probably scare the shit out of him if he couldn’t immediately see that it was her.

Mark gives her a tiny nod of acknowledgement, but turns his attention back to the game and continues his commentary. When Signe realizes that he’s in the middle of recording, she mouths ‘Oops, sorry!’ and quietly backs out of the room.

About ten minutes later, he emerges and tracks her down in the living room, where her and Jack are cuddled up on the couch, watching Iron Man with Matt and Ryan. Mark takes a seat on the arm, grinning at them. “Hey! I didn’t think you’d be back tonight!”

“We thought we’d stop by on the way home, and Ryan let us in,” Signe explains. Guiltily, she adds, “Sorry for bursting in on you while you were filming, by the way.”

Mark waves it off. “No big deal. How’d the shopping go?”

“We rented a truck, and we bought a bed and a table and everything!” Jack says, laughing at his own half-faked excitement.

“Well, that’s good. A bed is a good thing to have,” Mark agrees, amused. “Are you staying for the rest of the movie?”

Jack and Signe look to each other, shrugging. “Sure, why not?” Signe answers. Mark gestures for them to scoot over and then slides in on her other side and snuggles in.

“Great, now that you’re all cuddly, can we play the fucking movie?” Matt asks, faking annoyance.

“You could have been playing it the whole time, asshole!” Jack jokes back. “We didn’t ask you to pause it!”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t hear it over your yammering!”

“Just play the damn movie!” Signe cuts in before Jack can counter again. Matt blinks at her in surprise for a moment, but presses the play button.

\-----

When Mark wakes up, he’s in an extremely uncomfortable position, half laying and half sitting on the couch. Signe is still laying partially on top of him, but the boys have all disappeared. There’s a blanket draped over them and the lights are off. He carefully slides out from under Signe. She must be completely exhausted, because she doesn’t stir at all.

Mark maneuvers down the hallway, feeling in front of himself to make sure he doesn’t run into anything. There’s a light shining from underneath Matt’s door, so he knocks. “Come in!” Matt calls from the other side.

“Hey,” Mark says as he opens the door. “What happ—Oh.” All three of them are there, playing a card game. He flushes lightly as he remembers the last time he and Jack played cards together.

His boyfriend seems to read his mind, because he quickly says, “It’s just go fish, not poker.” Before the others can question this, he changes the subject. “Sorry, we really weren’t planning on staying another night, but you and Signe fell asleep and we felt too bad to wake you up.”

Mark shakes his head. “It’s fine. I told you, I don’t mind at all.” He’s tempted to add something incredibly cheesy about wanting them there all the time, but the presence of his roommates stops him. He watches their game, spacing out for a minute before he shakes himself out of it. “Well, I’m going to bed now. Night!”

“Goodnight,” Matt and Ryan chorus.

Jack glances between his cards and Mark for a few seconds before dropping them and following him out the door, ignoring the other men’s snickers. He catches up to Mark in the hallway and takes his hand.

“Should we wake up Signe?” Mark asks. “She might wake up with a crick in her neck if she stays on the couch.”

“She’ll be fine. She hates being woken up, because once she’s awake, it’s nearly impossible for her to fall back asleep.”

“Hmm, alright. I hope she sleeps okay out there, though.”

“She will,” Jack insists, leading Mark into his own room. They strip down to their boxers and climb into bed. It’s a hot enough night that they have to open the window and can barely stand to have the sheet covering them. Somehow, though, they still end up cuddling, only taking up half of the huge bed. Mark is out like a light as soon as his head hits the pillow. Jack watches him for a while, a tired smile on his face, and traces random shapes over his chest and stomach until he falls asleep, too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and leaving kudos and comments! I'm really sorry I don't reply to every comment, but I just never have anything new to say. All I can do is thank you, because I really do appreciate everyone who reads this fic and everyone who comments on it. <3
> 
> Fair warning: I really suck at writing smut, and I very rarely do it, so this chapter is probably about as risque as it will get. However, just in case, because of this and one chapter to come in the future, I'll be bumping the rating up to M.

Mark wakes up to the feeling of Jack sucking a hickey into his neck, and he wonders for a minute if he’s still dreaming. Once he’s sure he’s not, he says, “Well good morning to you too.” He resists the urge to look down at his boyfriend, instead turning his head to expose more of his neck.

“Good morning,” Jack says with a laugh before latching back on.

“What’s this all about?”

It’s rhetorical, but Jack answers anyways, popping up to look Mark in the face. “It has been _way_ too long, and we’re actually alone for once. You’re not comfortable being sexual around Signe, are you?” He says the word “sexual” with a dramatically lowered tone and a silly waggle of his eyebrows, but the way he grinds against Mark’s leg suggests he’s completely serious.

Mark swallows, taking a second to remember the question and formulate an answer. “Ah, no, not really… I just don’t know what’s okay and what isn’t.”

“Just move at whatever you pace you want, but I promise you; we’ve talked about it, and it’s _all_ okay.” Jack pauses to rethink his statement, then corrects with a laugh, “Well, unless you’ve got some crazy fetishes. Might have to talk about that first.”

Mark glares and lightly swats at his arm, but the effect is ruined when he gasps and bucks up a moment later, grabbing at Jack’s hair wildly to pull him into a kiss.

Jack pulls back after a few minutes to shimmy out of his boxers, and he’s reaching for the waistband of Mark’s when the door opens.

“Whoops, sorry!” Signe says, covering her eyes. She hurries out and closes the door behind her. “I tried knocking, but you didn’t answer! I thought you were still asleep!” she promises, though she’s sure they can hear her stifled laughter. “Take your time!”

She doesn’t wait for an answer before retreating back to living room, collapsing onto the couch. She plays on her phone for a few minutes, but she hasn’t changed it or her plan since moving into the country, so her only option is a single app that doesn’t connect to the internet. It’s a relief when Matt appears and sits down in the chair to her left.

“You are really red,” he observes. Bluntly, he asks, “They fucking?”

Signe chokes on a surprised laugh, but nods.

“Great,” he says, drawing the word out sarcastically. He sighs in exasperation before shrugging and asking, “Wanna play some SOTC?”

“Sure,” she answers with a smile. They set the game up, taking short turns. “Thanks,” Signe says after a while, watching him ride around the map. She’s not even sure what she’s thanking him for—for the game, for accepting her as part of the group so quickly, for helping her diffuse the tension the day before, for keeping her company, or maybe for all of it together—but Matt seems to understand.

“No problem,” he says, watching her out of the corner of his eye. He gives her a sincere smile before turning back to the game, and they fall back into a comfortable silence.

When Mark and Jack appear sometime later, freshly showered, Signe sticks her tongue out at Jack. “You’ve been missing your all-time favorite game,” she says smugly.

Jack makes a noise of indignation, but sits down next to her. He pushes her hair back, leaning to kiss her ear and whispering, “I’m really sorry.”

Signe turns, ready to tease him, but the genuine embarrassment and guilt in his expression kills the words on his tongue. She sighs and rolls her eyes. “It’s fine,” she says, looking into his eyes to make sure he knows she’s telling the truth. “I didn’t mind it before, and I don’t mind it now.” She pauses, eyes gaining a mischievous sparkle. “Just… Maybe lock the door next time. You’re lucky _I_ was the one who barged in. Again,” she finishes, referencing the Skype session from a few months ago.

“Right…” Jack says, looking uncomfortable.

At the same time, Matt shoots them an unamused look and says, “I did it the last time he visited.”

“Me too,” Ryan speaks up as he enters the room, laughing at Jack and Mark’s bright red faces.

“Wow… So not only are you two basically rabbits, but neither of you knows how a lock works. Impressive,” Signe says sarcastically, slowly clapping.

“I don’t have to take this abuse!” Jack says before escaping into the kitchen. Mark stays silent, electing to stare at the floor and hope that it somewhat hides his face.

Signe turns back to the screen, giving them a few minutes to cool down. She’s just starting to zone out when Mark suddenly speaks up. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?” She glances up, surprised, but nods and follows him to the bedroom. They sit on the edge of the bed and he takes her hand, staring at their interlocked fingers. She gives him a few minutes to gather his thoughts, watching the minute changes in his expression. Finally, he asks, “Are you absolutely _sure_ you’re okay with all of this? You’re okay with being with a near stranger, and you’re okay with me and Jack?”

Signe sighs lightly. She doesn’t mind reassuring Mark, but it’s starting to seem like maybe he’ll never believe her. He once confessed that he felt guilty about being with Jack, like it was cheating, and she wonders if a part of him still feels that way. “I’m positive, Mark. You’re not a stranger. I know you, and I love you, and so does Jack. That isn’t invalidated by the fact that we only met in person a few days ago.”

Mark nods, swallowing. “And you’re okay with the… physical aspect of things?” He pauses, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to get past. I mean, Jack and I had only met a few times when we had sex. Maybe it’s because you’re a woman? I don’t know, I just feel like I need to take things slow… But that’s not really what you want, is it?”

His tone says that he already knows the answer and is just frustrated with himself, but she decides to take it easy on him. “I want whatever you want. But yeah, I don’t mind; I’m a big girl, Mark, I can make my own choices. If you want to go slow, it should be for your own sake, not mine. I love you,” she repeats slowly, wanting to drill it into his mind. “And sex is just an expression of that, right?”

“You’re right.” Mark sighs and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, he turns to Signe with a smile. He kisses her and stands up, pulling her up with him. “We should go save Jack from the boys.”

“You know they’ll tease just tease you instead if you get in between them, right?” she asks with a laugh.

Mark shrugs. “Yeah, but I’m used to it.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for all the short chapters, but it's really a lot easier for me to get short chapters out fairly often than it is to take more time to write long chapters and have to figure out how to continue each one and transition between scenes (which is admittedly something I really need to work on). I hope you're enjoying them anyways, especially since it means that I can update a lot more often that I'd be able to otherwise.

When Jack and Signe leave, Mark takes the opportunity to get a few days’ worth of videos done. It’s obvious that he’s not going to have a lot of time in the near future. By the time he comes out of his daze and into the real world, the sun is long gone. He wanders into the kitchen and finds a plate full of food with a post-it note next to it.

_Hey Mark, hopefully you actually leave the office long enough to see this. Ryan and I made dinner, but you seemed pretty in the zone, so we didn’t wanna bug you. Just heat this up when you stop being a workaholic. Goodnight!_

Mark smiles and warms the food up in the microwave, then sits down to eat. He wishes he could say thank you to his friends, but they’re obviously asleep, so he resigns to thank them tomorrow. When he’s done eating, he washes the plate and heads to his room, collapsing into the bed.

Even though he’s exhausted, he can’t seem to fall asleep. After rolling over for what seems like the thousandth time, Mark opens his eyes and looks at the clock. 4:33. He glares at taunting red numbers for a minute, then sighs and stands up. He paces around the room and then out into the hallway. Stopping at the closet, he opens it and, on a whim, grabs another blanket. Mark heads back to bed, adding the thick blanket and laying back down. It’s stiflingly hot, but somehow, he falls asleep a few minutes later.

\-----

The next day, he heads out to record a challenge video with Ryan, Matt, and Team Edge. In the middle of the day, a thought crosses his mind, and it doesn’t let go until he has a chance to text Jack hours later.

_Hey, is it weird that I wanna take Signe out on a ridiculously cheesy and romantic date before we do anything?_

Jack replies quickly, and Mark can practically hear him laughing in his mind.

_No dude, not at all. That’s actually a really normal thing to do? But none of us have ever really been “normal,” huh? But how come she gets to be seduced with all the cutesy crap, huh? What about me?_

Mark chuckles, and Ryan calls out, “Get a room!” This attracts the others’ attention, but Mark ignores them in favor of sitting down for what’s obviously going to be a long conversation.

_Hey, maybe we didn’t start out too romantically, but that’s not my fault! Besides, we’ve gone on dates and shit like that since then!_

Jack responds with two texts in rapid succession.

_Hmm, kinda, if by “dates” you mean going somewhere and not being able to kiss you or even hold your hand or anything for fear of fans seeing._

_Ok, just realized that sounds like I’m accusing you or something. I’m not, ok? Just a joke. Of course I understand why it’s like that. Go take Signe out and have fun, ok? Just... You’ll have to be careful with her too, since everyone already knows she’s my gf._

Mark pauses, rereading the messages a few times. Jack claims to be joking, but it doesn’t really sound sincere. He’s never complained about it before, but does it bother him that they can’t really be together in public?

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, ruffling it out of shape. He should probably say something, but that’s really one can of worms he’s not quite ready to open. He settles for trying to placate Jack instead, giving him a detail that he’d meant to include from the beginning but had gotten sidetracked from.

_Well, I was actually hoping you’d come, too. All 3 of us on… as real of a date as we’re allowed to have._

_…Oh. Ok. That sounds great :)_

Mark stares at the reply, wondering if “…Oh” means he’s just surprised or that he’s disappointed by Mark avoiding the subject, and immediately decides that he hates not being able to hear Jack’s voice and that texting is the worst form of communication.

“Mark!” Matt says, waving his hand in front of his face. Mark jumps, looking up at him, and Matt rolls his eyes. “We’ve been yelling for you for like, five minutes!”

“Sorry,” Mark says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Just a sec.”

_Have to get back to filming now, but we’ll make plans later, okay? Love you._

_Right, love you too._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm realizing that I have absolutely no clue how long this fic will be. Originally, I planned for it to be about as long as the last one, but... Well, Mark's hesitation with Signe got much more drawn out than I expected and kind of became it's own plot, so we're getting kinda close to that length and we haven't even really started on the original plot. So I honestly just have no idea.

“Come on,” Signe whines, hands twitching by the blindfold on her head. “Can’t I take this off yet?”

“Nope,” Mark answers bluntly.

“But it’s uncomfortable!”

“So is this,” Jack retorts, tugging at the cuffs of his suit.

“So is what?”

“Uh, nothing.”

Signe turns in her seat to face him, lips pursed. Although Jack can’t see her eyes, he’s sure she’s glaring.

“We’re almost there,” Mark promises. “Just a few more minutes, okay?”

“Fine,” she relents, though not without a slightly dramatic huff and crossed arms.

\-----

When they arrive, Mark and Jack help Signe out of the car and Mark undoes the blindfold, careful not to pull her hair. As he moves in front of her, she starts giggling. “Is _that_ why you made me wear a blindfold? So I wouldn’t see your suits?”

“Actually, that was part of it,” Mark admits. “I didn’t want you to know where we were going.”

Mark gestures to the building in front of him, Signe’s gaze following. “That also explains why Jack was so insistent about me wearing a dress today,” she says, marveling at the architecture and the unreadable Italian name. “Although I’m not sure this is fancy enough.”

Jack looks her up and down, considering the simple light pink dress and matching heels. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“If you say so…” she answers, but she looks skeptical.

“Let’s head in,” Mark says. “I don’t know if they’ll cancel the reservation if we’re late or something.”

\-----

The evening is nothing like he planned.

People keep staring at them, because they clearly don’t belong here. Mark can’t pronounce the name of the dish he orders, Jack is just a little too loud, and at one point Signe snorts at a joke that one of them makes.

It’s really not romantic at all. The plan for a big, romantic night to woo Signe goes straight out the window in favor of making her laugh as much as possible and attempting to get that snort out of her again. The food is delicious, but they all eat so much that they’re doubled over and groaning by the time they leave.

“That was amazing,” Signe says, even as she moans miserably from how full she is. “Thank you, Mark!”

“It really was. Thanks, man,” Jack seconds.

“Not at all. Thank _you_ two for coming with me,” Mark says, taking their hands and leading them out to the car.

“We’re heading back to your place, right?” Jack suggests.

“Yeah. Right,” Mark answers, the first hint of nerves edging into his voice. Jack squeezes his hand comfortingly and gives him a quick kiss. Mark shoots him a grateful smile and squeezes back before dropping their hands and climbing into the driver’s seat.

“That sounds great,” Signe pipes up. “Tonight’s been really fun; I don’t think I’m ready to go home yet.”

“Then I guess we won’t,” Jack agrees.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aandd, here's the other somewhat sexual chapter, and that's pretty much all it is. I'm sorry, like I said, I'm pretty terrible at writing these things. But hey, if you like drama and chapters that are actually over 1,000 words, look forward to the next update!

As Mark unlocks the door, he silently thanks Matt and Ryan for being accommodating and heading to a friend’s place for the night, even if they really only agreed for their own sanity. He holds the door open for Jack and Signe, hesitating before following them in.

Signe, on the other hand, has caught on to the night’s plan and doesn’t hesitate at all. As soon as the door is closed behind Mark, she practically jumps at him, arms around his neck and lips insistent on his own.

Mark’s hands fall to her hips as he returns the kiss. He pulls back after a moment, chuckling. “You two are both very impatient,” he says, but it doesn’t sound anything like a complaint.

“Definitely,” Jack agrees from where he’s snuck up behind Signe, hands resting over Mark’s. He trails kisses down the side of her neck, laughing when she shivers and giggles.

“Shut up, it tickles!” she complains. Mark captures her lips again, silencing her laughter. Signe whimpers when he deepens the kiss just as Jack lightly nips at the junction of her neck and shoulder.

Mark smiles into the kiss, one hand releasing her to take Jack’s. Jack laces their fingers together, slowly leading his lovers backward.

Signe shuffles awkwardly to get some space between them, kicking off her shoes. Unfortunately, her foot gets caught in a strap on the second one. She hops in place, pulling it off and tossing it with the other shoe. “That was… not as sexy as I imagined,” she says with a chuckle.

“Everything you do is sexy,” Mark reassures her, and Jack hums in agreement.

“Aww, you boys are too sweet.”

Jack spins her around, grabbing her neck with his free hand and pulling her in for a long kiss. Signe grabs onto his shoulder with one hand, supporting herself as she stands on tiptoe. Her other hand goes to the front of Jack’s pants, making him moan. Mark rubs at her shoulder, slowly moving inwards until he reaches her zipper. He hesitates there until she shakes slightly, miming shrugging off the dress. Taking it for the permission it is, he unzips the dress bit by bit, leaning to kiss each inch of skin as it’s exposed.

He goes as far as he can without falling over before standing back up, and Signe moves away to pull it off, the dress pooling at her feet and leaving her in her white bra and panties. She takes each of her boyfriends’ hands in one of her own and pulls them along, leading them in the direction of the bedroom. Mark and Jack share a mischievous look, seeming to read each other’s minds, but she doesn’t have time to question it before the world tips. She shrieks, laughing as everything rights itself again and she realizes that Mark just picked her up. She swats at his chest lightly, grimacing when she hits a button. “You are both way too overdressed,” she concludes.

Taking matters into her own hands, she undoes the button and pulls off Mark’s jacket, dropping it behind him. She twists to face Jack, making grabby hands, but Mark is still moving, carrying her down the hall, so Jack removes his own jacket.

 Jack slides ahead of them, opening the bedroom door. They stop in front of it, and he leans down to kiss Signe, hand running up over her stomach and chest. When they part, he moves to Mark, tugging at his hair and pulling his bottom lip between his teeth.

Signe’s seen them kissing plenty of times before, of course, but this is somehow completely different, and she can’t help the quiet moan that surprises both herself and her boyfriends. She covers her mouth in slight embarrassment when they both turn their attention on her.

“Bed,” Jack suggests, red-faced and pupils blown wide, and the other two frantically nod their agreement. They follow him into the room, and Mark kicks the door closed behind them with a surprisingly loud bang.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I didn't want to ruin anyone's shipping fun by saying this, but since several people still asked me to write the smut after I thought I was pretty clear that I wouldn't, I figured I should give my reasoning. If you don't give a shit, feel free to skip this and enjoy the promised start of the drama.
> 
> So. I said that I'm just terrible at writing smut, and that's true and is definitely one of the reasons that I don't want to. More than that, though, I just really don't feel comfortable writing it for these specific people. Frankly, Mark seems kind of annoyed with all things Septiplier lately, Jack doesn't feel comfortable with smutty fanart/fanfiction of himself existing, and Wiishu never really asked to be in the spotlight in the first place. So I feel really uneasy about going against their wishes so much. And on that note... I was going to wait to say this until the end of this fic, but I might as well say it here. Once this is over, I probably will not be writing any more about any of them, except if somewhere down the line I get inspired to do more with the Antisepticeye drabble I posted on tumblr a while back. That's a very big "if" though. Alright, rant over. Sorry.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit!” is the first thing Mark hears when he wakes up in the morning, which is… really not a promising start to the day at all. He opens his eyes to find Jack, sitting with the sheet pooled around his waist, scrolling through his phone and muttering under his breath.

“What’s wrong, babe?” he asks sleepily. For a moment, he’s embarrassed by the pet name that just rolls off his tongue, but Jack doesn’t even seem to notice it. He jumps and stares at Mark with wide eyes for a minute.

Jack takes a deep breath and rushes out, “Okay, I know I was kind of bugging you about not hiding from everyone, but I swear this wasn’t my fault!”

Mark can feel his heart drop into his stomach and his breathing get shallow. He opens his mouth to ask what his boyfriend is talking about, but nothing comes out. His vision starts to darken at the edges and he thinks he might vomit. _Fuck, this must be a panic attack,_ some distant part of his brain registers, and the realization only makes it worse because he starts panicking about panicking.

“Hey, hey… It’ll be okay. We’ll work it out, okay? Come on Mark, calm down,” he can hear Jack saying, but his voice sounds like it’s coming from far away and he can barely comprehend the words.

“What’s going on?” Signe tired voice comes from behind him. It’s accompanied by her hand rubbing his bicep, and Mark clings to the feeling, trying to use it as a physical anchor to the real world.

“I don’t know; he’s freaking out,” Jack answers worriedly.

“Honey, calm down,” Signe says, voice low. She leans into his field of vision and tries to catch his eye. “Look at me. Take deep breaths, okay?”

Mark nods quickly and attempts to calm his breathing, but it just comes out louder and shakier.

“In,” she says in a calming but firm tone. She slowly raises her hands, palms up, and Mark tries to match his breathing with the visual cue. “Out,” she says, flipping her hands and pushing them back down. She continues this for a few minutes until he can control his breathing on his own.

“Are you okay?” Signe asks after a while.

Mark nods, collapsing back against the headboard and closing his eyes. When he feels like he can talk again, he says quietly, “That was terrifying.”

His girlfriend lets out a dry chuckle. “Believe me, I know. What happened, anyways?” She directs the question at Jack, wanting Mark to relax as much as possible.

He runs a hand through his hair, looking simultaneously nervous and angry. “Somebody found out about us.”

“Oh.” She watches Mark in concern for a minute before asking, “Is there… proof?”

“I wish I could say no,” Jack answers, cringing. Flipping the phone towards her, he adds, “They got a picture.”

Sure enough, it’s open to a tumblr page with a picture taken in the parking lot the night before, Mark holding both their hands and kissing Jack. “Shit.”

“That was my reaction, too,” he says with a short laugh.

“What are they all saying?”

“I hadn’t looked yet. I’m kind of scared to know,” he admits.

“Let me see it,” Mark speaks up, holding his hand out.

“Are you sure?”

He lets out a long sigh. “I’m sure. I’m scared out of my mind, but I’d rather know the damage now.”

“Alright…” Jack says hesitantly, handing the phone over.

“…Oh.”

“What’s ‘oh’ mean?” Signe asks uneasily.

“It’s not that bad. We can handle this,” he answers, sounding happily surprised.

“Really? How?” Jack asks.

“Most people think it’s an edit or something. Hardly anyone believes it’s real. This’ll die out on its own.”

“Okay. That’s good,” Jack says, though there’s a barely detectable edge of disappointment to his voice.

Before they can get into an argument, Signe says, “Let’s just shower and try to relax for a while, and then we can talk about this afterwards.”

“Alright,” Jack agrees, smirking suggestively.

“ _Separate_ showers,” she says, but her stern tone is ruined when she can’t hold back a laugh. “The last thing we need is to get wound up right now. We need to calm down and think about this with level heads.”

“I know…” he pouts. “Maybe you should go first, Mark.”

“Yeah, okay,” Mark agrees. He stands up, wobbling a bit, but determinedly ignores his shaking legs as he walks to the bathroom.

“What the fuck was all that? Is he going to be okay?” Jack asks when the door closes behind him.

“Remember when I told you I got anxiety attacks a lot when I was younger? _That’s_ what that was,” Signe says matter-of-factly. “I think he’ll be fine, but… It’s a lot to deal with. You know how scared he is of everyone knowing about us.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know he was _that_ scared! How the hell does he deal with Matt and Ryan and Bob and Wade knowing?”

“That’s different. Those are all people he knows he can trust. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, or us. Random people on the internet, on the other hand, could fuck up his life without a second thought.”

“Wow,” Jack says, letting out a sigh and seeming to physically deflate with it. “I guess I never really thought about it like that.”

Signe scoots closer, giving him a quick kiss and rubbing up and down his back. “I know you came to terms with who you are a long time ago and you don’t care that much who knows, but Mark is new to this. He was never involved with multiple people before us. Hell, he didn’t even know he was interested in men at all until… What, about eight months ago? And I think he’s dealt with it pretty well, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to handle how _other_ people will deal with it.”

“Okay…”

“I know you want to tell the world, and believe me, I do too. But don’t push him too hard, okay? We’ll get there eventually, I promise.”

“You’re right…” Jack says quietly, sounding like a scolded child.

“Obviously,” Signe says with a laugh. She kisses him again before pushing his shoulder. “Now go do something to get your mind off it.”

“I want to work!” he pouts. It’s the first thing that comes to his mind, because it’s usually easy and distracting to fall into his work and forget everything else.

“Sorry, honey, but I think we need to stay here until we talk this out. How about working _out_?” she suggests with a slightly smug smile.

Jack rolls his eyes. “That’s terrible. It’s actually not a bad idea, though. What can we do without equipment and without leaving, though?”

Signe just snickers. “Get dressed, and I’ll show you.”

\-----

That’s how Mark finds them in his living room about ten minutes later, Jack being reluctantly dragged into yoga. He lets out a quiet laugh that draws their attention, and his boyfriend instantly drops out of the pose to circle around behind him. “Are you okay, babe?” Jack asks, massaging Mark’s shoulders, and he feels a little thrill run through him at the reciprocation of the nickname.

“Yeah. Sorry I freaked out like that.”

“It’s not like you _chose_ to have an anxiety attack, doofus,” Jack answers fondly, but Mark just shrugs uncomfortably.

“One of you should take your shower now. Is it okay if I go record for a while?”

“Are you sure you want to get straight into work right now?” Signe asks worriedly.

“I just need a little more time alone,” he answers honestly.

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

“I am. Thanks.” Mark flashes a small smile at them and spins on his heel, disappearing into the office. He gets everything turned on and set up, then stares into the camera silently for a minute.

“Hello, everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome to—shit,” he says automatically. He laughs weakly and starts over, making a mental note to edit out the false start later. “Hey guys, so some of you might have seen--” His throat closes up and his heart rate increases as he remembers the picture, and he stops again, trying to match his breathing back up to the slow pace Signe had shown him.

A few minutes later, he opens his eyes, takes a deep breath, and starts again. “Hey guys, so I guess this is my ‘coming out’ video,” he says with air quotes, “and—crap, I don’t know.”

“Surprise! I’m in a polyamorous relationship!”

“All you Septiplier fans, you were right! We’re together! But Jack’s also still with Wiishu! And so am I!”

“I want to address something before it gets completely out of hand. I want to explain it in my own words before anybody can make it into something it’s not, so… Shit, I really don’t even know how to explain it.”

After several more half-assed attempts, Mark growls and looks to the ceiling, rubbing his hands over his face. “Fuck it,” he says, stopping the camera. He shuts the computer back off and exits the room.

His lovers are curled close together on the couch, talking quietly, Signe with her hair twisted into a towel. When they see him, they go silent, watching him curiously. Mark stares back for a moment before falling into a chair, trying to hide his nerves and steady his voice.

“You wanted to talk, right? Let’s talk.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this chapter took longer than usual. I was working on a short story for one of my classes, so that kind of took priority for a while. It's done now, though, so hopefully you can expect quicker updates again. This fic is getting out of control. I expected it to be done at about 10k words... So far, between what I have posted and random scenes I've written ahead of time, I have over 14k and no end in sight. Eek.
> 
> Warning for the use of a gendered slur.

“We can cover it up for right now, but… Are we going to tell everyone at some point, before something happens that we _can’t_ cover up?” Signe asks. She looks slightly nervous about bringing it up, but it’s on all of their minds.

“Well, maybe eventually,” Mark says hesitantly. He doesn’t mention the failed attempts he’s already made. “We can decide later, but we should start small for now, maybe just make a few collabs to show them that we’re all hanging out.”

Jack fights back his immediate response, knowing that the longer they put it off the worse things could get. He sees the logic in what Mark is saying, though, and he’s trying to follow Signe’s advice, so he just nods. “That’s a good idea. Then we can make up our minds either way a little further down the road.”

“Exactly.”

“A lot of people have seen that picture, right?” Signe asks. “Should we acknowledge it, make a joke and flat-out say it’s a lie?”

“No, that’ll just lead to trouble if we tell the truth later,” Jack argues.

“Let’s just ignore it for now,” Mark suggests.

“Alright…”

“Do you want to start the collabs today?” Jack asks.

 “Sure,” Mark answers, swallowing down the bile that he can feel rising in his throat. Signe reaches over the arm of the couch to take his hand, and he squeezes back with a thankful smile, focusing on her touch. “Should we do a game or…?”

“Sure, why not? We just have to find something that all three of us can play.”

Mark and Jack look at each other for a moment, thinking, before suggesting simultaneously, “GTA?” They laugh, and Signe rolls her eyes but can’t restrain a chuckle.

They get everything set up, but just before turning on the camera, Mark hesitates, looking to his girlfriend. “Do you want me to introduce you as Signe or Wiishu?”

She shrugs. “Wiishu’s fine.”

“Alrighty then.” He takes a deep breath, starts the recording, and plops down on the right side of the couch, next to Jack. He puts on a bright smile and waves at the camera. “Hello, everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome back to Grand Theft Auto V. We’ve got a couple of special guests today! Say hi, guys.”

Jack and Signe both wave and call out their hellos, and Mark continues. “As some of you may know, Jack and Wiishu moved out to L.A. recently! So we thought we’d make some stuff together to celebrate. You’ll probably be seeing quite a few videos with the three of us over the next few weeks, so look forward to that! And now, let’s jump right in to the game!”

\-----

_This is awesome! Funniest video you’ve made in a long time! I can’t wait to see the rest!_

_Seriously? Wasn’t she just a fan? Now she’s not only dating Jack, but using their relationship to get onto Mark’s channel? What an attention whore._

_I’m so sik of seeing this game everywhere! Bring back Happy Wheels!_

_Septiplier away!_

_wait, theyre in LA now?! I had no idea! that's so cool!!_

_This was alright, but when will you make more collabs with Wade and Bob??_

_This was really fun to watch, and it looks like you guys had a lot of fun making it! :)_

Mark sighs as he scrolls through the comments on the new video two days later. Their regularity calms him, though a few of them do get him pissed off on Signe’s behalf and make him want to defend her.

 _Maybe that picture didn’t spread as far as we thought,_ he thinks when he realizes that only a few people have mentioned it in their comments.

“How is it?” Jack asks, appearing in the doorway. He comes around to lean on the back of the chair and read over Mark’s shoulder. He lets out a quiet growl, and Mark huffs a bitter laugh in agreement, knowing exactly which one he’s just read. After a few seconds, he says, “Well, it’s not as bad as it could be.”

“That’s for sure.”

“So… Should we just keep going like this, then? Collab, let people get used to seeing the three of us together, and keep our private lives private?”

“I guess so. For now, at least.”

“Okay.”

Mark hesitates before asking, “You aren’t going to disagree?”

“Why would I?” he responds with a shrug.

“Because you want to tell everyone the truth,” Mark says like it’s obvious. Jack opens his mouth, but he cuts him off before he can object. “Don’t tell me you don’t. I can see the way you clench your jaw every time we talk about it. You’re trying to be patient with me and be a good boyfriend, but it’s clear what you really want.”

“I can wait,” Jack says firmly.

Mark rolls his head back to look up at him. “I know you can. But that doesn’t mean you want to, or that it’s fair to you. I’m basically dragging you into the closet with me.”

Jack sighs, realizing that this is going to turn into a long conversation. He looks around for a chair, settling for Mark’s lap when he doesn’t find one. He looks into Mark’s eyes, and Mark stares back steadily. “You want the truth?” At his nod, Jack says, “Okay. Yes, I want to tell the fucking world that I have two amazing people by my side. But I’m not going to rush you into something you’re not ready for, especially if it’s going to make you freak out like you did a few days ago.”

“I don’t know why that happened,” Mark admits. “I’ve never had a panic attack before in my life. I don’t think it would happen again, though.”

Jack laughs softly, running a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. “You don’t know that. You can’t control things like that, and besides, you’re still scared, right?”

“Yeah,” he answers, looking away. “I guess I am.”

“There you go.”

“I don’t want to be, though. I want to be able to tell people about us, and… I’m trying.” He takes a deep breath, lets it out shakily, and reaches around Jack to reach the mouse. He opens up the video he’d attempted to make before.

Jack turns toward the monitor, watching in silence. He can feel the frustration that’s been bubbling up for some time start to melt away. When it ends, he looks back to Mark with a sad smile. “Oh, babe…”

Mark takes his hand and, looking into his eyes, repeats like a promise, “I’m trying.”

“Thank you,” Jack says earnestly. He raises their hands and presses his lips to Mark’s knuckles. “We’ll get there. We’ll make it work.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I'm not too fond of this chapter, but it's kind of necessary filler because of the time jump. I promise the next chapter will get back to actual plot. Apologies for my lack of rock-climbing knowledge though lol
> 
> Also, this fic has passed 1,000 hits and the first one has passed 2,000! Thanks so much, guys! I really hope you're enjoying it! :D

Over the next few weeks, things settle back into their version of normal. Jack and Signe bounce between the two houses. They finally realize that they’re spending more time at Mark’s than their own when, after two weeks, they notice that they have yet to unpack anything except clothes and the equipment Jack needs to do YouTube (which he was far too excited about putting in the new office). They make an effort to get everything unpacked and settled, but they continue staying with Mark more often than not, which he’s thankful for. Though he hasn’t mentioned it, he struggles to fall asleep without them there now.

They continue making videos together, too. Most of them go up on Mark and Jack’s channels, but they attempt an artsy competition to put on Signe’s channel once. It ends with her doubled in laughter, clutching her fantastic drawing, while the boys argue over which of theirs is better and attack each other with markers. The comments declare that both drawings suck but Jack’s is better. The artwork Mark does on Jack’s face is almost unanimously voted the winner, though.

Unfortunately, outside of that video, the comments stay more or less the same. Mark monitors them closely, hoping to see a hint that maybe it will be okay if they spill the beans, but there will always be people who are accepting and people who aren’t. Nobody’s opinions seem to be changing one way or the other.

In one of the rare times that he comes out of his preoccupied daze, Mark realizes that the house is a disaster. Frankly, it would probably be horrendous even if he lived on his own, with how little time he has lately for things like cleaning, but now Jack and Signe are there all the time, too. He’s still playing ‘father’ to Matt and Ryan as well, although they seem to be around less and less lately and he’s caught them looking at housing ads once or twice. With five people around at different times, it’s absolute chaos.

It’s fairly early in the morning, so his lovers are still asleep, but he feels restless. He goes on a cleaning spree for a few hours and is in the middle of vacuuming when Signe walks up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. “Whatcha doin’?” she mumbles sleepily, the side of her face pressed to his shoulder blade.

“Don’t fall asleep there,” he jokes, and she lets out a small groan. “I’m just doing some cleaning. It’s _long_ overdue.”

“I can help,” she says, letting him go and standing up straight.

“Don’t worry about it; it’s not your house.” There’s a long silence, and when Mark turns around, he’s surprised to see that she looks a bit hurt and angry. “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head and gives him a weak smile. “It’s nothing. I’m just being stupid.”

“Really, what is it?” he asks, taking her hands.

“It’s just… ‘not my house?’” she repeats. “We practically live here, don’t we?”

“Well, yeah…” Mark agrees, slightly confused, “but it’s still not your responsibility.” Signe rolls her eyes and shakes her head again, and after a minute he gets it. “Oh! Oh, sweetie, no. That’s not what I meant. This house is yours just as much as it is mine. I love having you here so much. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to do chores here; you already have another place to take care of. And I know you do take care of it, it’s spotless aside from all Jack’s coffee cups.”

She laughs. “Okay. See, I told you I was just being stupid.”

Mark presses his lips to the top of her head. “It’s not stupid, but you really don’t need to worry about it. I’m really only cleaning because I wanted to get some energy out anyways.”

“Alright,” she says, tilting her head up to kiss him. “Do you want to do something else to get rid of that energy?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”

“Probably not,” Signe answers with a chuckle. “I was thinking that maybe you could take us rock-climbing today like you’ve been talking about.”

“Oh, sure!” Mark says, brightening. “I bet you’ll love it.”

“I hope so.” She pauses for a moment, glancing at the doorway. “Your turn for coffee?”

He fakes a sigh but nods. “Yep. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Mark goes to the kitchen while Signe sneaks back into the bedroom. She sits on the edge of the bed and rubs Jack’s back gently. “Jack, wake up,” she sing-songs quietly. He grumbles and makes a vaguely shooing motion with one hand, making her laugh. She presses kisses to his face and the back of his shoulder and says, “C’mon, it’s time to wake up, baby. We’re going out in a while.”

“I’ve got coffee,” Mark bribes from the doorway, and Jack groans but sits up. He blinks owlishly at them and takes the cup.

“Thanks,” he says tiredly after a few sips. He leans to kiss Signe and crooks a finger at Mark, who obediently leans down for a kiss as well.

The other two wait patiently, used to the routine, and eventually Jack looks more alive. He smiles at both of them and asks, “So, we’re going out? Where to?”

“The gym,” Mark answers.

Jack makes a face. “We can work out just as easily here as we can at a gym.”

“Yeah, but we can’t rock climb here.”

“Oh!” he bounces excitedly. “Awesome! When’re we leaving?”

Mark and Signe look to each other, shrugging. “As soon as you’re ready, I guess.”

\-----

“This is a bit harder than it looks,” Signe pants as she sits down next to Mark after she’s gone up and down the third wall.

“Yeah, but it’s a good workout, and you’re doing great,” Mark says. He instinctively reaches for her hand but catches himself at the last moment. He folds his hands in his lap, and they peer up at Jack. “C’mon, slowpoke!”

Jack lifts his head to sneer at Mark and then turns his attention back, walking down the wall. He unhooks himself and is walking towards them when Mark suddenly takes a deep breath and says, “I think I’m ready to tell everyone about us. As long as you guys are too, of course.”

Jack stumbles and makes a noise of surprise but steadies himself. “Thanks for waiting ‘til I was on solid ground for that one,” he says, making Mark chuckle.

“Maybe we should talk about this at home,” Signe suggests, glancing around nervously.

“Right.” Mark stands stiffly and leads them to the equipment check-in, and then back through the winding halls until they’re outside. They climb into the car and drive back to the house silently, Jack clinging to Mark’s clenched hand the whole way.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I guess my note on the last chapter made people think that I'm quitting this fic, so I wanna make this clear: I'm not. I hate leaving things unfinished, and I fully intend to see this thing through. It just might take a while.
> 
> Also, have I mentioned that I've kind of fallen in love with Signe and Matt's non-existent friendship? I don't even know how that happened, but it did lol
> 
> Warning: There's going to be a lot of hate aimed mostly at Wiishu and a lot of offensive (mainly sexist and homophobic) slurs in the next few chapters, because people are mean and idiotic on the internet. It's just a fact.

“A lot of people aren’t going to accept it. There’s going to be a lot of backlash. Are you sure you’re ready for that?” Jack glances to each of them in turn, and they both nod.

“It won’t be the first time I’ve faced backlash for my personal life being revealed,” Mark says with a humorless laugh. He gnaws on his lip for a minute and eventually says, “I’ll admit it, though; I’m still scared shitless. And I don’t know what to even say.”

Jack gazes at the ceiling in thought. When he looks back down, he’s wearing a sly smile. “Maybe we don’t have to _say_ anything yet.”

“What do you mean?” Signe asks, brow furrowed.

“You’ll see. Let’s just record a normal video for now.”

“Alright,” Mark agrees, though his heart leaps into his throat as he wonders what Jack’s plotting.

\-----

“Hello, everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome back to the Whisper Challenge with Matt, Jack, and Wiishu!” Mark says, gesturing to each of them in turn. “I’ve played this a few times before with some other friends, and it always leads to hilarious situations, so if you haven’t seen those, check out the links in the description below! If you don’t know how the Whisper Challenge works, it’s basically like telephone. Except instead of whispering in each other’s ears, you have to lip read while listening to really loud music.” He waits a moment for that to sink in and claps his hands together. “Alright, let’s start!”

The game goes seamlessly, and they all end up curled in on themselves with laughter a few times. Mark’s having so much fun that he’s nearly forgotten both his nerves by the end.

That all goes down the drain the moment he finishes his outro, when Jack slides closer on the bench to kiss him. He’s gone as quickly as he was there, but Mark freezes in shock and fear. After a second, he remembers the whole purpose of the video and manages to snap himself out of it. Understanding Jack’s plan, he swings himself around to kiss Signe, who’s sitting on the chair behind him. Rather than turning back to face the camera, he watches her lean to kiss Jack, creating a strange chain.

Matt is snickering behind his hand, but when he looks up and notices the panic in Mark’s eyes, he sobers and gets up to shut off the camera. He stays standing by it for a few minutes, watching the other three. When nobody speaks up, he asks, “Are you actually going to leave that in?”

Mark takes a few more seconds to calm down and eventually says, “Yeah, I think so.” His frown melts into a small smile when the other two jump forward to embrace him.

“Oh, honey, I’m so proud of you,” Signe says, squeezing his hand.

“Thank you,” Jack whispers emphatically, lips pressed to Mark’s ear and arms wrapped around his neck. “I know this is hard for you.”

“It’s worth it for you two,” Mark says firmly, and though he’s still worried, he knows it’s true. “I don’t want to hide you anymore.”

“Well, you chose one hell of a way to come out,” Matt speaks up, watching the footage on the camera. He laughs and adds, “That’ll definitely have people talking.”

“Thanks, Matt. Just what I wanted to hear,” Mark says sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at him.

Matt sets the camera back on the tripod and walks over to squeeze Mark’s shoulder. Looking down at him with a half-smile, he says, “Hey man, I’m proud of you. _All_ of you,” he adds, looking to Jack and Signe.

“Thanks, Matt,” Signe says, standing up to hug him. He blinks in surprise but squeezes her back tightly after a moment.

“Now I guess all that’s left is to edit and upload it and wait for the chaos,” Mark says, rubbing his temple.

“Well, what’re we waiting for then?”

\-----

In the end, Mark asks Matt to edit and post the video, worried that he’ll chicken out if he’s in charge of it. They all agree to let it sit until morning before they read the comments, but eventually curiosity gets the best of him. He’s had hours to process everything, and surprisingly, he feels calmer than he has in weeks. What’s done is done, and all that’s left is to deal with the fallout.

For once, Mark is the last to go to bed, instead watching movies into the early hours of the morning. Around 2am, he loses interest in the film and turns the TV off, his mind wandering back to the video. He wonders anxiously what the reaction’s been until he can’t take it anymore and pulls out his phone, scrolling through the YouTube app and opening up the comments on the new video.

Nearly every comment is about the kisses at the end.

_Ummm… That was a joke, right?_

_fuckin faggots_

He winces, swallowing down the sudden rush of bile and reminding himself that they’d expected this. He shuts off the screen and waits for his heartrate to drop before continuing.

_probly a dare or smth_

_guys, i think that was real. i mean, jack and wiishu are already together, right? and a lot of people think that mark and jack are. maybe they’re just ALL together now._

Mark smiles. Well, at least _someone’s_ got it right.

_Eeee! They’re so cute!!! And how can you say it isn’t real??? Look at the way Mark looks at them at 5:14 and 9:31. That is the face of a man in love._

He rolls his eyes, but curiosity gets the best of him and he checks the times that they’ve tagged. _…Oh. Have I really been that obvious?_ he thinks. It makes him wonder if he’s looked that love-struck in _all_ the videos they’ve made together. He’s tempted to look, but he’s not sure he actually wants to know the answer, so he keeps scrolling instead.

_Anyone remember that pic from like a month ago? We can def say that’s real now, right?_

_That’s disgusting. Hasn’t Mark always said that he would never cheat? Isn’t being the ‘other man’ just as bad? So disappointed. Unsubscribed._

Mark frowns to himself. That was something he had worried about a lot, at first. Over time, though, he’s come to understand that this isn’t cheating at all. How could it be, when they’ve all agreed to it and knew exactly what they were getting into? He wants to reply to the commenter and explain it all to them, but he made an agreement with Signe and Jack that they wouldn’t answer anything until they make their official ‘coming out’ video in a few days. Besides, it’s not a viewpoint that’s easily changed; he knows that much from experience. It takes time, and better explanations than he can give, and some people won’t be persuaded no matter what.

He looks at his subscriber count, and it’s clear that a lot of people share the opinion of that last commenter. It’s a bit disappointing, but he expected as much. As Mark keeps looking through the comments, he finds more and more hateful messages. Some of them are flat-out cruel, and he’s sure he’s not even getting the worst of them. Those are probably going to Signe, since she was getting hate even before this just for dating Jack. The thought is surprisingly upsetting, and he’s struck by the sudden need to see her. He shuts off the computer and creeps into the bedroom as quietly as he can.

Surprisingly, Jack is asleep. Signe, on the other hand, is still awake, face lit by the glow of her phone. She glances up at Mark when he walks in, and her eyes are wet and shining with the reflection from the screen.

Mark swallows and rushes over, pulling her into a hug. She buries her face in his chest, and he gently pulls at her legs. She gets the idea and swings them over the edge of the bed, standing up and letting him lead her out to the living room.

The room is dark, but neither of them make a move to turn on any lights. They sit on the couch, and Mark wraps an arm around her, the other going up to pet her hair. “Shh, please don’t cry,” he says, and he thinks he can feel his heart literally breaking.

Signe lets out a watery laugh and shakes her head. “And risk ruining my amazing make-up? I’m not crying,” she insists. She pulls away to prove it, and sure enough, her tears are still unshed.

Mark puts a hand on her cheek, and she leans into it, closing her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “We should have just let it be. I should’ve thought about how _you_ would be affected, instead of just thinking about myself.”

She shakes her head again and sighs. “It’s not your fault. People can just be assholes, especially when it’s on the internet and they know they can get away with it. I’ll be okay. I guess I just wasn’t quite as ready as I thought I was. I always underestimate how terrible some people can be.”

Mark gives her a quick kiss before pulling her head back to his chest and returning to slowly petting her hair. “None of it is true. You’re an amazing, beautiful person, and none of them know a damn thing about you.”

“Thank you, Mark,” Signe says with a small smile. She takes a deep breath. “You know, it’s not all bad. Some people have sent really sweet, supportive messages, too.”

“I know,” he answers. He slowly lays down, and Signe follows, laying halfway on top of him. “Those are the people you should listen to. We’ll get through this, okay? All three of us, together. It’ll be alright.”

She nods tiredly, and Mark presses a kiss to her hair. He runs a soothing hand up and down her back until she drifts off, and he follows soon after.


	13. Chapter 13

“What happened?” Jack’s concerned voice breaks through Mark’s sleepy haze. He opens his eyes to see Signe sitting on the other end of the couch, Jack standing over her and glancing at Mark worriedly.

Signe shakes her head, putting a finger up to her lips and whispering. “It was me this time.”

“Don’t worry about being quiet; I’m awake,” Mark says, sitting up. He yawns and stretches. “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering what the hell happened to have you two curled up out here clinging to each other for dear life instead of in bed.”

They shoot guilty looks at each other and Mark admits, “We broke our promise.”

Jack’s face scrunches in confusion, but after a minute it clears. “You looked at the comments,” he concludes.

“People said some really terrible things about… well, all of us, but I think Signe got the worst of it.”

Jack looks to Signe, and she stares at the ground quietly for a few seconds. When she finally speaks up, her voice shakes slightly. “I got a lot of really nasty tweets,” she confirms, “and I had to turn off anons on tumblr.”

“Show me,” Jack says darkly, jaw clenched. Signe pulls out her phone, taps at it a few times, and hands it to him. Mark stands to read over his shoulder, and his usual aversion to violence is cast aside. Instead, he instantly wishes that he could punch every single fucker who’s said anything bad about his girlfriend.

_Slut_

_You don’t deserve either of them!_

_Learn your place, ugly bitch_

_Go back to wherever you came from, fucking two-bit whore_

There’s a whole slew of tweets in a row like that, but Mark quickly realizes that many of them were sent by a single person. He takes the phone from Jack and scrolls past them. There are still other people who leave horrible messages, but there are more supportive ones as they get farther down, too.

_You’re awesome, Wiishu! Don’t listen to the haters, they’re just jealous! Love you, and I hope you guys get all the happiness you deserve!_

_congrats! i'm glad u guys finally decided to share this side of yourself with the world!_

_< 333_

_Everyone whos saying shit about you needs to stfu. Youre amazing and beautiful, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise_

He blocks the person who had sent the string of negative messages, maybe tapping the screen just a bit too hard. Then he scrolls back to the positive ones and hands the phone back to Signe. “ _These_ are the people you should pay attention to,” he says. “Everyone else can go fuck themselves.”

Signe laughs weakly and takes each of them by the hand, pulling them down next to her. She curls up to Jack and he wraps an arm around her, squeezing tightly.

There’s silence for a few minutes, until Mark says wearily, “I’m so fucking tired. If it’s already this bad, how the hell are we supposed to come back from this?”

“I don’t know,” Jack admits. “But the worst part is over with. There’s no turning back now.”

“I guess we start by actually explaining the situation,” Signe says. “Maybe springing it on them that way wasn’t the best idea.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack says with a frown. “That’s my fault.”

Mark shakes his head and sighs. “It’s nobody’s fault. None of us really thought about the consequences, we went along with it, and I left it in the video.”

“I guess…” Jack replies, though he doesn’t look entirely convinced.

Mark hesitates for a moment before asking, “Do you mind if we wait a few days before we make the ‘coming out’ video?” He makes a face, and the other two chuckle, knowing that he hates the phrase for their situation. They’ve yet to figure out a better term, though. “I don’t think I’m ready to face that quite yet.”

“Fine with me. I don’t think I’m ready, either,” Signe says.

“Yeah, let’s wait,” Jack agrees. “This is more than enough for now.”

“Thanks.” Mark leans his head on the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling. He contemplates working on some other videos to get his mind off this mess, but decides that he just doesn’t have the energy. Instead, he opens the Twitter app on his phone and, ignoring the barrage of tweets he’s gotten in the last day, types out a short message.

_No videos today. Sorry._

He exits the app before he can risk seeing anything people have said. Then he stares at the wall blankly, zoning out and trying not to think in case he sends himself into a panic. He’s snapped out of it when Signe suddenly says quietly, “Can we just go have a movie day in bed?”

Her voice is so quiet and pitiful that he feels a physical pain in his chest. “Of course, baby. That sounds like a great idea.”

“Thanks.” They stand up, Signe still clinging to Jack’s arm, and he presses a kiss to the top of her head. When they get to the bedroom, Mark closes the curtains as the other two climb into the bed. He finds a few DVDs and asks which they’d prefer, but neither answers. He glances between the options and Signe’s blank expression a few times before shrugging and putting in a romantic comedy. It’s only after he’s cuddled up next to them with an arm around Signe’s shoulder that he realizes he doesn’t actually know what kinds of movie she likes and might have just chosen it based on a stereotype. Still, she doesn’t complain, and he hopes that in this case, the stereotype holds true.

It does.

About fifteen minutes in, a small smile grows on Signe’s face. Another fifteen minutes, and he hears her giggle. Mark and Jack share a look over her head, smiling in relief. They link hands over her stomach and snuggle in closer, settling in for a day of mind-numbing movies.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because we need some fluff, and because I realized about a week ago that somehow Chica doesn't yet exist in this fic and that's just unacceptable. Obviously the circumstances of how Mark got her are a bit different here, because being able to change details to fit your needs is one of the many perks of writing fic :P

In the middle of the night, Mark is snapped awake by a light knock on his door. He sits up and rubs the sleep from his eyes, staring blankly at the DVD menu looping on the TV screen for a few seconds. After making sure his lovers are asleep, he shuts it off and carefully pulls a sheet over them before making his way out of the room. Matt’s standing in the hallway, but Mark puts a finger to his lips, quietly shuts the door, and leads him to the living room.

“What’s up?” Mark asks, falling onto the couch and running a hand through his hair. “Where were you guys all day?”

“Uh… House hunting,” he admits, looking guilty. Mark just shrugs; he wouldn’t force his friends to keep living with him if they don’t want to, especially now that there are always so many people around. “Hey man, are you okay? You look… Not.”

Mark shrugs again and huffs out a laugh. “Honestly? I don’t know. It was a rough day.”

“The video?” Matt guesses, face scrunching.

He nods. “I’m kind of sick of talking about it, but if you take one look at the comments or at the tweets directed at any of us, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

“I could already take a guess.”

“Yeah, probably. I think Signe got the worst of it, and she didn’t take it well. We spent the day watching the cheesiest movies I could find, and Jack and I did our best to take care of her and cheer her up, but… People are cruel, man. It’s not easy to get over.”

Over the next few seconds, Matt’s expression changes from one of annoyance at the thought of anyone hurting his friends to one of plotting. “Tomorrow will be better. I promise.”

“That’s a tall order,” Mark says with a quiet chuckle. “How do you plan to live up to that?”

“You’ll see,” Matt answers, his smile growing wider. “For now, go cuddle up with Signe and your boytoy and get some sleep.”

Mark laughs and rolls his eyes, but stands to follow his advice. “I think I’ll do that. Goodnight, Matt.”

“Night.”

\-----

For once, Jack is the first one awake in the morning. He cooks a huge breakfast and brings it to the bedroom, setting the trays on the bedside table. “Wake up, love,” he says quietly, rubbing Mark and Signe’s shoulders and shaking them gently until they awaken.

“Morning,” Signe says with a sleepy smile.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Mark says, sitting up to steal a kiss from his boyfriend.

“I’ve got an even better one,” Jack promises, turning to grab the trays and set them on his lovers’ laps.

“Ooh, this looks great,” Mark says, staring hungrily.

Signe takes a bite of bacon and moans happily. “It _tastes_ great, too. Maybe we should make you cook more often,” she teases.

To her surprise, Jack shrugs. “If you really want me to. I’m not really _opposed_ to cooking.”

“Mmm, I second that motion,” Mark says, digging into a pancake.

They finish breakfast and laze around in bed for a while before getting dressed and heading out to the living room. “Are Ryan and Matt gone again?” Mark asks, not seeing or hearing any hint of them.

Jack nods. “They left while I was making breakfast. They were acting all sneaky and suspicious,” he adds with a laugh.

“Alright,” Mark says, remembering Matt’s words from the night before and wondering if their absence is somehow related. “Hey, I need to do some work for today’s videos, but do you guys want to have another movie day once I’m done?”

“Sure,” Jack replies.

“Fine with me,” Signe says, picking at her pancakes.

Mark finishes off his own food and gets dressed. “Okay, I’ll be back in a few hours. If you guys decide to stay, just… do whatever you want. You know everything’s open to you,” he says, sweeping his arms out to encompass the whole house. He kisses each of them, and then disappears into the office.

\-----

Once Mark is settled in and the recording equipment is ready, he looks through his list of games and chooses one that looks funny, a silly little flash game that doesn’t require much brainpower and has plenty of poop jokes.

He starts it up and gets into it as much as possible, purposefully not thinking about or mentioning his personal life or anything that’s happened in the last few days. The game is meant to be a one-off, but he decides to keep going and make a second episode rather than play something more serious.

Once the recordings are done, he sets to work editing them as quickly as possible and posts one, setting the other up to post at noon. Then he sends out a tweet apologizing for the fact that the first video was a bit late and shuts down the computer.

Mark wanders into the living room, hoping to find Jack and Signe there, but the room is empty. “Guess they went back after all,” he mutters to himself. He shrugs and heads for his bedroom, nearly jumping out of his skin when he sees someone sitting on the bed. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!” he says, laughing.

“Sorry,” Signe says with a giggle. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Obviously. You didn’t even do anything. I’m just a giant baby.”

Signe scoots over and pats the bed next to her. “Wanna watch with me? We can start the movie day without Jack,” she offers, gesturing to the TV.

“Sure, but why don’t we move to the living room instead of staying in this cave,” Mark suggests, knowing that it won’t help her mood to stay in a dark room huddled in the bedding.

“Alright,” she says, shrugging and untangling herself from her blanket burrito. She stands and takes his hand, letting him lead her to the other room.

Mark sets up the movie and sits down on the couch, Signe laying with her head in his lap. “Where is Jack, anyway?”

“He decided to go home and finish up his own videos,” she answers, “but he just texted me a few minutes ago. He’ll be back in a while.”

“Okay.” Mark runs his fingers through Signe’s hair, watching the way her eyes flutter rather than the movie. Her tense muscles loosen after a few minutes, and Mark is surprised to find that the repeated motion relaxes him, too. His eyes start to drift closed, but he snaps himself awake a few times before giving in and shutting them. The sounds of the movie still vaguely reach him for a few more minutes, but soon enough even that fades, and there’s nothing but black.

\-----

When Mark awakens again, he looks around tiredly and sees Jack sitting in a nearby chair. His boyfriend notices the movement and looks away from the screen, putting a finger to his smiling lips and point to Mark’s lap. He looks down to find Signe curled up in sleep and nods his understanding.

They watch the movie for a while, the volume low. Just as the credits start to roll and the music kicks up, Signe sits up with a yawn. “Sorry,” she says, laughing. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“That’s okay; I did, too.”

“Are your legs asleep?” she asks guiltily.

He shakes each of them, relieved to not feel the pins and needles. “Nope,” he answers happily.

Signe opens her mouth to respond, but is interrupted by the front door opening. Ryan peeks inside but keeps the door mostly closed, blocking it with his body. “We’ve got a surprise,” he says with a sneaky smile.

Mark makes a small questioning noise, and from outside Matt calls, “You know how you’ve been saying--”

He’s cut off by a loud bark, and Mark instantly jumps up, eyes brightening. “No way!”

Ryan grins and steps out of the way, and a golden retriever bounds in, barking excitedly.

“Oh my gosh!” Signe squeals, rushing to pet the dog.

Mark follows her, glancing between the retriever and his roommates. “Are you serious?” he asks, shocked.

“Completely. You said you wanted a golden retriever, and we thought everyone could use some cheering up lately. We would have dragged you along to choose her, but we wanted it to be a surprise. Sorry,” Matt says, shrugging guiltily.

“Don’t be!” Mark says emphatically. He leans down to ruffle the dog’s fur, and she takes to him instantly, jumping all over him. “She’s perfect. What’s her name?”

“We didn’t actually ask,” Ryan admits. “So I guess it’s up to you guys to name her.”

Mark looks to the others questioningly, and they shrug. “This one’s all you, buddy,” Jack says, placing a hand on his shoulder. He squats down next to them, and the dog runs up to sniff at him and lick his face.

Mark goes silent for a few seconds, absent-mindedly petting her. “Chica?” he suggests eventually.

“Aww, that’s adorable! It’s perfect!” Signe says.

While they’re playing with their new pet, Matt comes to stand over them. He puts a hand on Mark’s shoulder and smiles down at him. Mark grins back and says, “Guess you lived up to your promise after all.”

“Told you I would.”

\-----

Rather than continuing their movie day, everyone goes out to the backyard and spends the rest of the day playing with Chica. The mood is lighter than it has been in days, but it seems to fall as soon as they head in for the night.

“Can Chica sleep on the bed with us?” Signe asks once they’re all ready for bed. They hit him with matching puppy-dog eyes, and he groans.

“I really shouldn’t teach her that that’s okay, but… Fine.”

“Yay!” She pats the bed, and Chica jumps up excitedly, spinning in a circle before laying down. Signe lays down and wraps her arms around the dog tightly, using her as a pillow.

Jack sits down next to her, brushing the hair out of her eyes, but Signe buries her face in Chica’s fur to avoid looking at him. “Hey, are you alright?” he asks worriedly. She shrugs. “What’s wrong?”

She sighs and sits up. “I don’t know. I was fine most of the day, but now…” she trails off, shrugging again.

“But now it’s hitting you again and you feel like shit, but also guilty because you shouldn’t?” Mark guesses, falling onto the other side of the bed. She nods, and he lets out a dry laugh. “Yeah. Me too.”

Jack stands to turn off the light, and then crawls back up between them. He wraps an arm around each of their shoulders, pulling them closer and says, “I know things are shit now, but they’ll get better. We’ll _make_ them better.”

“Promise?” Signe asks, voice small and frail in the darkness.

“I promise. We’ll make that video tomorrow, and then we’ll go out and do something fun. And if people don’t like what we have to say, then screw them. They’ll move on sooner or later, and we’ll be stronger for all the shit we’ve gone through.”

Mark rolls onto his side, curling into Jack and resting an arm on his chest. Jack squeezes his hand tightly for a moment and finishes, “But now, we sleep. _Everything_ sucks when you’re too tired to deal with it.”

“Okay. Love you,” Signe says through a yawn.

“Love you,” the boys chorus.


	15. Chapter 15

“Hello, everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome to… my ‘coming out’ video, I guess.” He still can’t say it without the air quotes. “Um, as a lot of you probably figured out a few days ago, we’re together. Yes, all three of us,” Mark says, gesturing to Signe and Jack, who are sitting on either side of him.

“Hey,” Jack says with a tense smile.

Signe waves at the camera silently. Out of some sense of spite, she’s put on a gorgeous dress and spent hours getting her hair and makeup exactly right. It makes her feel strangely confident and powerful. Fuck anyone who says she’s not good enough for her boys.

“Unfortunately, our stunt the other day was received even worse than we expected, which is saying a lot,” Mark continues, “So we thought we’d take some time today to clear up a few things. I’ll start, because I’ve seen quite a few comments about this that have really bothered me. It’s polyamory, not cheating. I know that explaining it won’t change anyone’s mind if they’re dead set on believing what they want, but some people are just genuinely confused or don’t know any better, so… We are in a polyamorous relationship. That means that all three of us went into this knowing exactly what was going on, and we all consented to it. There was no infidelity or secrets, and we are all very happy with the situation. Er, I guess that’s about it for that,” he finishes awkwardly, looking to Signe.

“Alright, second thing,” she starts, taking a deep breath. “We’re telling you all about this because we didn’t want to keep secrets anymore or have things get even _more_ out of hand when someone inevitably found out anyway. You might occasionally see us together in videos, or out on the streets if you live in the area. That is _not_ an excuse to ask invasive questions or be generally creepy. Our private lives are going to stay more or less private. We’ve told you this much, so please don’t make us regret it.”

Signe gestures for Jack to take his turn and he sits up straighter. “Okay, here’s the most important thing,” he says, looking uncharacteristically stern. “If you’re causing drama or sending either of them hate, knock that shit off. That is _not_ in any way okay. If you disagree with our personal choices, then that’s your prerogative, but you don’t need to be an asshole about it. You can ignore it and not say anything, or you can move on and watch something else. If you can find a way to voice your opinion respectfully, you can even do that. But if you’re just going to be an ass, it will _not_ be accepted. We’ll be blocking anyone we see spewing hate and reporting them if it’s extreme, and relying on the more pleasant parts of the community to help out with that. If you see someone acting like that, get involved. Either block and report them or try to talk to them about it, but _don’t_ stoop to their level. That just makes things worse.”

“Right. Basically, play nice, kiddies. Anything else we should mention?”

“Don’t you have another announcement, an unrelated one?” Jack asks, a smile slowly creeping across his face.

Mark tilts his head, watching his boyfriend in confusion for a minute. Then it hits him. “Oh, right! How could I forget?” He jumps up, making his way out of the room. He returns a few seconds later, lugging Chica onto his lap. “We got a dog! Or more accurately, Matt and Ryan got us a dog! Thanks so much, guys! She’s the cutest little pupper-schnup ever!” he coos, excitedly ruffling her fur.

“I’m sure Mark will be posting plenty of pictures and videos with her,” Signe says while he’s distracted.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he says. “Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing plenty of Chica in the next few weeks.”

“Now are we done?” Jack asks.

They all look to each other, shrugging, and Mark says, “I think so. Um, for those of you sticking around on the channel, I promise I’ll try to get back to a normal uploading schedule soon. Things have just been pretty crazy lately, as I’m sure you can imagine. But thank you everybody so much for watching, and as always, I will see _you_ in the next video! Buh-bye!”

“Buh-bye!” Jack and Signe join in, waving at the camera.

Mark ends the recording and sags back in his chair with a sigh. “Okay, I’ll edit and upload that later, though I don’t think it will really need any editing. You promised something fun today, though?” he asks, looking to Jack pleadingly.

“Hmm… What is there to do in California that isn’t in Ireland?” he thinks aloud.

“Sun?” Mark suggests with a laugh.

“That’s not something to _do_ , ya doof!” Jack counters, giggling. “It _does_ give me an idea, though…”

“Oh?”

“Why don’t we go swimming?”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Signe says, perking up. “I haven’t gone swimming in so long!”

“Swimming it is, then,” Mark agrees, his smile growing wider. “I’ll go change and then we can leave. We’ll stop at your place on the way so you can change and grab towels and sunscreen and stuff.”

“Sunscreen?” Jack asks flatly, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You’ll need it here, trust me.”

“If you say so…”

“What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!” Signe says, bouncing in excitement.

“Right, let’s go!”

\-----

“It’s so pretty!” Signe sighs, watching the beach fly by out the window. “Remind me again why we aren’t just going to the ocean?”

“Because the ocean is pretty much the most terrifying thing ever, the beaches are insanely crowded, and you’ll freeze your ass off within a few minutes,” Mark answers, laughing. “Don’t worry, the lake we’re going to might not be quite as pretty, but it’s much better for actually swimming.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she says warningly.

\-----

“Okay, you were right,” Signe admits as she lays to float on her back. “This is fantastic.”

“And there’s nobody here!” Jack adds, surprised, looking around the secluded lake surrounded by trees.

“Told you so,” Mark says smugly. “I discovered this place a few years ago and have been coming here ever since. Technically, it’s a fishing lake, but there’s hardly ever anyone fishing here and anyone who _does_ goes out in a—hey!”

Jack shrugs, whistling innocently when Mark turns to him with a glare. The effect is ruined by the wet hair hanging in his face.

“Oh, you’re on,” Mark says, eyes glinting. Jack tries to escape, but his progress is slowed by the water and he gets soaked. They chase each other through the lake, splashing each other and laughing all the while.

Signe is content to ignore her boyfriends’ antics and just float and enjoy the sun until a badly-aimed splash hits her face. She stands upright, sputtering and glaring, but neither of them notice.

She sneaks up behind Mark while he’s distracted, hands poised to unleash a huge splash his way. Jack spots her over and grins, but Mark catches it. Just as he turns around to defend himself, Signe grins mischievously and hits Jack instead. The look of betrayal on his face and the limp green hair in his eyes send her into a laughing fit.

After a minute, Jack starts laughing, too. “Oh, this means war!”

\-----

“That was so much fun,” Signe says, pulling the towel up behind her shoulders again in an attempt to keep Mark’s car dry.

Mark hums in agreement. “We should do stuff like this more often.”

“Definitely. I think we get too wrapped up in work sometimes,” Jack says. “We should go _out_ more.”

Mark pauses at the mention of work but quickly pushes away his nerves. “We should have a date night every week. Or date day, whatever. I mean, we actually _can_ now without worrying about fans seeing,” he says, smiling. Finally, there’s an upside to all this insanity.

“That’d be nice,” Signe says, reaching to squeeze his hand.

“Yeah, some time for just the three of us,” Jack agrees, straining forward to give each of them a quick kiss on the cheek. He sits back with a satisfied smile. “That sounds great.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weirdly, this is one of the first scenes I wrote for this fic. Why? I don't know, probably because I get really emotional over Mark getting emotional lol
> 
> Also... I might have spoken too soon when I said this would be my last Septiplier fic. I've gotten a bit of inspiration for 2 different fics lately and also forgot that I was planning to take part in the Sunshine Project, and... As much as I'd like to be nice and ignore them, I get driven absolutely insane by ideas that I don't go through with (to the point that lately I've been considering writing a fic that I planned five years ago even though I haven't been involved with the fandom since then). So I guess we'll see how that pans out.
> 
> ETA: Whoops, almost forgot to say-- Big shoutout to MissWarina for inspiring this chapter with one of her early comments! Thank you! <3

“Hey Mark, I think you might wanna see this,” Matt says over his laptop as soon as Mark enters the kitchen.

Mark frowns, rubbing his eyes. “I just woke up. What’s so important already?”

“Just trust me,” he answers, smiling. He scoots his chair over and slides another one up to the computer. Mark sits down, silently raising an eyebrow when he sees Wade on the screen, and presses play.

“Hey guys!” Wade says cheerily, but after a moment of silence he sighs. His face falls a bit as he takes on a more serious air than usual. “So… a lot of you know about the drama going on right now involving my good friend Mark.”

He pauses, scrubbing a hand over his face and looking away from the camera. After taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts, he looks back. “Some of you have been asking about my opinion on the matter. I would think it’d be obvious, but…” He trails off with a shrug. “You all know how important Mark is to me, and nothing could ever change that. He’s old enough to make his own decisions, and I support them 100 percent. You can’t control who you love, and even if you could… Well, I can’t imagine anyone better that he could have chosen. Jack is an absolutely amazing and insanely nice guy, and although I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Wiishu yet, I’ve heard nothing but good things about her. Mark’s a very lucky man, and I’m extremely happy for him.”

Wade stops again, giving a chance for his words to sink in. Eventually he continues, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “Some people haven’t taken the news quite so well. I understand why some people are a little upset, and that it takes some time to get used to, but… Well, frankly, it’s not your life. Whether they’re together or not isn’t your choice to make, and I would hope that anyone who dislikes it would be mature enough to just move on. But that’s not what’s happening. People have been leaving all three of them some really terrible comments, hurtful things that would be enough to destroy just about anyone. Why? What do you gain from it? Causing someone else pain? Because that’s not something that you should want. Do you really _want_ to carry around that guilt? No. And I _know_ you’re all better than that. So if you’re one of the people saying such horrible things, shame on you. Please, either show your support, or just move on. It has no effect on you.” He shakes his head, cutting himself off as he realizes he’s ranting. “To those of you who _have_ been supportive, thank you. But yeah, that’s really all I wanted to talk about here. A lot of people were asking about it, so there’s your answer. Regular videos will be up later. And Mark, if you’re watching this: love you, buddy. Congratulations.” He grins and waves at the camera, and then the video cuts out.

“Are you okay?” Matt asks, looking at Mark worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answers, laughing even as he uses his sleeve to wipe at the tears gathering in his eyes.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s just… God, how did I get so lucky? I’ve got not one, but _two_ amazing partners, and the best friends I could ever ask for. You, Wade, Ryan, Bob… You’ve all been nothing but supportive. What the fuck did I ever do to deserve that?” He gives another watery chuckle, and Matt wraps an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close against his side.

Matt hesitates, not wanting to be so touchy-feely, but knowing that it’s exactly what his friend needs right now. He sighs and says, “Mark, it’s _all_ you deserve. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. You only deserve the best, not all the shit that’s being thrown at you right now. But the people who really matter, the people who really know you? We’re here for you, no matter what.”

Mark makes a quiet noise and rubs at a fresh round of tears. “Fuck you, man! Don’t make me cry!” he objects, trying to laugh, but he goes willingly when Matt pulls him into a tight hug. He buries his face in Matt’s shirt and clings to the back of it. Matt rubs one hand up and down his back, and after a minute, he finally lets out a small sob that it feels like he’s been holding in for weeks. Maybe he has. “Thank you,” he whispers hoarsely, and then the waterworks start in earnest.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously. How the hell did Signe and Matt's dynamic become my favorite thing to write in this fic?? (Actually, I've really just come to love writing for Matt in general to be honest.)

Luckily, Signe and Jack wake up late, after Mark’s had time to calm down and take a shower. Even though he knows they wouldn’t judge him for crying, he doesn’t really want them to see him so weak, much less make them feel any worse than they already do.

“Morning, honey,” Signe says. She grabs a bowl of cereal and a mug of coffee before sitting down next to him. She smiles, and Mark can’t help but notice that after the fun they had yesterday and a good night’s sleep, she looks more like herself than she has all week.

“Morning,” he replies with a smile of his own.

Jack waves silently, half-opened eyes peeking out over his own mug. Mark chuckles and squeezes his knee under the table.

“I was thinking about going grocery shopping in a bit. Do you guys wanna come?” Mark asks.

Jack nods, but Signe hesitates. “I’m still kind of tired. Would it be alright if I just hang out here?”

“Of course, baby.” He stands to place his dishes in the sink and says, “I’m gonna grab my phone and wallet. Let me know when you’re ready to go, Jack.”

\-----

When they walk back into the house after an uneventful shopping trip, Jack makes an indignant sound, mouth hanging open in exaggerated shock. Mark peeks around him and laughs.

“You better not be trying to steal our girlfriend,” he jokes.

Matt responds by tightening his arm around Signe’s shoulders. She cuddles in closer and sticks her tongue out at them. “He’s my new bestie,” she says childishly, making Matt laugh.

“Yeah, she likes me better,” he says, matching her tone.

“Well fine then, we’ll just go elsewhere,” Jack pouts. Mark follows him into the kitchen, and they put away the groceries before joining the other two in the living room.

“What’re you playing?” Mark asks.

“Doritos Crash Course,” Signe says, laughing as her character gets smacked into the screen.

“Oh, tha--” Mark trails off when his phone chimes. He unlocks it to find a twitter notification from Bob.

_To everyone asking: I won’t say any more than this, but yes, of course I support @markiplier and @Jack_Septic_Eye. I’m happy for you bros._

Mark looks up to see Jack checking his phone, too. They share a silent smile before putting their cell phones away and jumping into the game with Signe and Matt.

\-----

Mark’s phone goes off again a few hours later, but this time it’s an actual call.

“Hi, Mom!”

She doesn’t even bother to greet him before she starts screeching. Mark holds the phone away from his ear, cringing. “Why did I have to find out about your relationship from a video?” she demands. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Uh…” He glances around awkwardly at the others’ raised eyebrows before gesturing vaguely and heading into the backyard. He closes the sliding glass door quietly and says, “Sorry, Mom… I guess it’s just been really crazy and I didn’t think to tell you about it.”

It’s a half-truth, at least. He hasn’t really had the time or sanity to think about telling his mother, but he’s not sure he would have done it anyways. How do you explain something like that to a parent?

“You didn’t think to tell me?” she repeats incredulously. “How long?”

“Um… I’ve been with Jack for about ten months now,” he says, counting on his fingers, “and Signe for about three. It’s only been about a month since they moved to America, though.”

“Ten months?” his mother groans. Mark can practically see her pout in his mind.

“I’m really sorry, Mom. How did you end up seeing that video, anyways?” he asks, knowing that she doesn’t normally view his channel unless he specifically wants her to watch something.

“Oh, your brother showed me,” she says nonchalantly. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

“I’m not,” he promises, “I just don’t really know what there is to say.”

“Well, do I get to meet them the next time you visit?”

“Mom, there’s a lot going on right now. I probably won’t be able to make it until Christmas, like usual. I’m sure they’ll want to travel home and spend it with their own families.” Mark knows he’ll get a lecture if he leaves it there, though, so he adds, “I’ll ask them about it, though. You’ll meet them eventually.”

“Alright…” she gives in reluctantly. Snickering, she asks, “Does this mean I’ll get grandchildren from you after all?”

Mark chokes on air and sputters for a minute before shouting, “Mom! I think it’s a bit early to be thinking about that, don’t you?”

“Eh, maybe,” she says, but it doesn’t really sound like she agrees.

“And what do you mean ‘after all?’ I know I’ve been moving a bit slower than you want, but you would’ve gotten grandkids _eventually_ , you know.” There’s silence for a few moments, and then it dawns on him. “You actually thought I was gay, didn’t you?”

“Well…” She trails off, laughter tinting her voice.

“Well, now you know I’m not,” he says, also laughing.

“Bisexual, then?”

“I don’t know, maybe?” Mark says, running a hand through his hair and tugging on the ends. “Jack’s the only man I’ve ever been attracted to. Does it really matter what we call it?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll back off,” she says, sensing his frustration.

“Thank you,” he replies emphatically. “Can we talk about something else now?”

“Alright. Oh! You know, a few days ago…”

\-----

“You okay?” Signe asks with a sympathetic expression when Mark falls onto the couch next to her.

He buries his face in his hands with a groan, but nods all the same. After a few seconds, he lifts his head to say, “Well, my mom saw the video and decided to interrogate me.” As he talks, he pulls out his phone to text Tom.

_Why the fuck did you show Mom that video?? Don’t you think that’s something I’d want to tell her myself?_

Signe laughs. “I told my parents about us a while ago. They were kind of concerned at first, but I think they’ve gotten used to the idea now. Did your mom react okay?

“Yeah. In fact, she wants you both to come with me when I head home for Christmas. I told her we’d have to talk about it and you might be going to see your families, so… There’s more than enough time to think about it, but don’t worry about it if we need to make our excuses.”

“Oh, shit…” Jack moans suddenly.

“What’s up?” Mark asks worriedly.

“I totally forgot… My family wants to meet you, too. They’ve already met Signe, but not you, and they want us all to go up there for a week or two. I’m so sorry I forgot to mention it earlier!”

“That’s alright,” he responds, though the idea of meeting Jack’s family and making a bad impression is somewhat terrifying. If he’s survived the past few weeks, though, he can survive one or two with his boyfriend’s family. His phone chimes, and he reads the message, asking distractedly, “When would we be going?”

_Sorry!! I thought you already told her! I only showed her that cause I thought she’d be proud that you decided to tell the world!_

_Ugh. Nope, she didn’t know yet. I just got an earful. Guess that’s what I get for not telling her in the first place._

“Um… In like three weeks?” Jack says, nerves making his voice higher pitched.

Mark nearly drops his phone, eyes darting up to his boyfriend. “That soon?” He glances around the room; Signe’s shocked expression matches his own, and Matt must have snuck out at some point during their conversation.

“Sorry!” Jack repeats, ducking his head. “If you guys don’t wanna come, I totally get it! I’ll just come up with something to tell them!”

“No, no, I’ll come,” Mark reassures him. His phone goes off one more time and he reads the message but doesn’t dignify it with a response.

_True :P Ahaha at least she’ll be bugging YOU for kids now instead of me._

“Me too,” Signe chimes in.

“Are you sure?” he asks, face scrunched worriedly and muscles tense. They both nod, Signe reaching to rub his shoulders, and he relaxes and huffs out a laugh. “I love you guys.”

“Love you,” they return, and Mark moves to stand behind his chair. He leans down, wrapping his arms around Jack’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

Jack tilts his head up to catch his lips, and when they pull away, Mark says, “But you know I’m going to be a nervous wreck now, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... For reference in future chapters, does anyone know the names of any of Jack's family members? Or really anything about his family at all? :s


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huh. For some reason, I thought I posted this chapter yesterday, but apparently not. Well, here it is now, I guess.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who helped out with the information about Jack's family. I already knew some of it, but I wanted to confirm what I knew, and you guys gave some new info in the process. Now, it only starts coming into play at the very end of this chapter, but I DO want to point out that I still know very, very little about his family. This is the case with absolutely everyone in the fics I write, but doubly so for them: none of this is meant to be an accurate portrayal of real people. In fact, I'm making up half their names and nearly everything about them. So please keep that in mind.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, on with the chapter! This one is mostly just short snippets, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.
> 
> P.S. Another big thanks to MissWarina, who basically inspired this entire arc with her comment about the reactions of friends and family! :)

Over the next few weeks, things start to get better—not perfect, but better.

Somehow, Jack has managed to keep up his steady upload schedule even through all the insanity. When he finally posts a video to his own channel addressing their relationship and the drama surrounding it, Mark breathes a sigh of relief (Jack’s fans always seem to take him seriously when he puts on the dad pants and don’t want to disappoint him, so maybe things will lighten up a bit now), and then decides to take a page from his book and throw himself into his work.

Both of them start getting into the habit of preparing extra videos on Thursday so that they can all take Friday to go on a date. One night, they go to see the latest superhero movie, and the next week, they go on a long hike. Mark can’t believe the weight that’s lifted when he finally realizes that he can kiss Jack and Signe without having to glance over his shoulders again and again to be sure that there’s no one else around.

They’re set to leave on Thursday, and the week leading up to that is spent frantically pre-recording videos and double-checking plans and tickets. Wednesday night, Jack finds Mark in their bedroom, standing over an open suitcase and muttering to himself. He sneaks up behind him, wrapping his arms around Mark’s waist and pressing light kisses to the back of his neck. “What’s up?”

Mark jumps, but his surprise dies down quickly. He relaxes a bit into Jack’s grip, but looks at him with wild eyes. “I don’t know what clothes to bring,” he whines, gesturing to the pile on the bed.

Jack laughs. “Bring whatever you want, Mark. It’s not a big deal.”

“But I wanna make a good impression!” he argues with a slight pout.

“Aw, babe… I didn’t know it meant that much to you,” Jack mutters, squeezing him tighter and smiling against his neck.

“Of course it does,” Mark replies. He straightens up, turning in Jack’s arms and resting their foreheads together with a laugh. “I told you I’d be a nervous wreck.”

“Well, it took longer than I expected.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s really just hitting me now. I’ve been pushing it all aside by focusing on work, and now it’s all done and we’re leaving in the morning.” He pauses for a moment, then sighs and admits, “I really hope your family doesn’t hate me.”

“They won’t,” Jack promises. “They’ll love you. And I was serious about it not mattering what you wear, so just throw whatever you want in there and let’s finish packing and get to sleep. Our flight’s at 6am.”

“Alright, alright…” Mark agrees, pulling away. He packs some comfortable clothes, but after Jack leaves he sneaks in a suit too. Just in case.

\-----

“I’m going back to sleep,” Jack groans, resting his head on Signe’s. Not that he actually could. They’re all sitting in the back of a taxi on their way to the airport, and crammed in the middle, Jack feels closer to suffocation than sleep.

“Just wait til we’re on the plane, sweetie,” Signe says quietly, running a hand through his hair. She can barely keep her own eyes open.

“But that’ll be hours!” he whines.

“We should’ve taken a later flight,” Mark says, blinking at all the LA lights that fly past his window.

“Too late now,” Signe answers.

“Fair point.”

\-----

“Coffee…” Jack groans exaggeratedly, walking for the long line with outstretched zombie arms. He can’t restrain his giggle when his lovers both turn to him with raised eyebrows. He’s well aware that his coffee addiction is a bit out of hand, but how else could he survive early mornings after staying up way too late every night?

After a moment, Mark shrugs. “I guess I could go for some too,” he says, eyes drooping.

“Why are we up before the sun?” Signe questions.

“I don’t know, but let’s hurry up and get our drinks and find somewhere quiet,” he answers, though what he really means is ‘private.’ The whole airport is eerily quiet, filled with tired early-morning travelers watching the muted televisions, messing around on their phones, or trying to sleep.

“Sounds like a plan.”

\-----

“Window seat!” Jack calls when they finally get to board the plane. He’s noticeably more energetic after a cup of coffee and a few hours to wake up, though Mark and Signe are still struggling.

“You sure?” Mark asks disbelievingly. “Aren’t you afraid of heights?”

Jack makes a face at the reminder that they’ll actually be in the air, high above the earth and any hope of being saved if something goes wrong. “Yeah… It doesn’t really make sense, but I actually feel better if I can see outside. I get nauseous in the aisle seat.”

“Alright,” Mark acquiesces, letting Jack take the window seat before sliding in next to him.

\-----

When their last plane finally touches down, Mark gently shakes his lovers awake. Signe blinks, sitting up slowly, while Jack jolts in his seat. He looks out the window and chuckles. “I’ll never get used to that.”

“To what?” Mark asks curiously, whispering over the pilot’s final messages.

“Leaving the U.S. before sunrise and arriving in Ireland before sunrise the next fucking day.”

“Yeah, it is pretty weird,” Mark agrees. “I don’t do much international travel, so it’s definitely a change.”

They get their luggage down and follow the line off the plane. Mark and Signe both have extra bags to pick up, and by the time they finally make it outside, all three of them are fed up with the crowds and ready to leave. Jack stops right outside the door, though, laughing again. He spreads his arms wide and turns his face to the sky, eyes closing.

“Are you alright?” Signe asks worriedly.

Jack looks back down, pushing his wet bangs out of his face. “I never thought I’d miss all the rain,” he says with a gentle smile. There’s something small and sad in his voice, though, and his girlfriend shuffles over to wrap her arms around him, bags abandoned on the ground.

“I know, baby,” she says with a sympathetic smile. “I still get homesick, too.” They stand huddled together for a few minutes, until Signe realizes that Mark is neither joining them nor saying anything. She looks up to find him standing a few feet away with a carefully blank expression, and it clicks. Pulling away from Jack, she hastens to say, “Hey, no, L.A. is great, I swear! It’s just… hard sometimes, you know?”

“Yeah,” Jack seconds, moving to kiss Mark’s cheek and take his hand. “I miss my country and my family sometimes, but I have _never_ regretted moving to be with you.”

“I know,” Mark responds, looking down at him with a small smile. “I was just getting a bit upset with myself for dragging you guys so far from home, but I know you wouldn’t have come if you really didn’t want to.”

“Hey, _we_ made that decision,” Signe reminds Mark, poking him in the chest. “You didn’t even know about it until our plans were settled, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he concedes with a laugh.

“So don’t you dare try to beat yourself up about it. Now let’s find a cab and get out of here.”

“Actually, Abby’s here to pick us up,” Jack says, holding up his phone with the text message showing. “It would be a _long_ cab ride out to the middle of nowhere.”

“Oh, right,” Signe says. “Well, that’s even better then.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was definitely one of the funnest chapters to write. I guess I just really love writing kids. :)

“Good to see you, sis,” Jack says, grinning as he slides into the passenger seat. He leans to hug her, squeezing tight.

“You too, Jack,” Abby replies, rubbing his back a few times before pulling away. She turns in her seat to glance at Mark and Signe, then looks back to Jack. “So these are the SOs?”

“Yep,” he says, smiling proudly as his sister turns her attention to the road and backs out of the parking space.

“Well, I have to admit I’m jealous of my baby bro here,” she says, smirking at them in the rearview mirror. “You’re both absolutely gorgeous.”

“Abby!” Jack whines, embarrassed. Signe flushes bright red, and Mark looks out his window, trying to stifle his laughter.

“Don’t worry, I’m not looking to steal them and run off. Not that I would be opposed to that,” she says with a wink. Jack buries his face in his hands and a burst of laughter leaves her lips. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Calm down!”

“I hate you,” he pouts. Mark giggles from the backseat, and Jack shoots a short glare at him.

“Love you too, little bro.”

They fall silent for a bit, watching as the view outside their windows slowly changes from bustling city to gorgeous countryside. Eventually, a thought occurs to Jack and he asks, “Did you bring Davy with you?”

Abby nods. “Yep. He’s back at the house. Mom and Dad are having too much fun spoiling him rotten.”

“As usual,” he replies with a laugh. “I’m his uncle, though! I get spoiling privileges too! I was a little preoccupied, though, so I didn’t really think to bring anything. I’ll have to take him out sometime and let him pick something. How long are you guys here, anyways?”

“Well, me and Davy are actually staying for three weeks, so we’ll be here the whole time you are. Mark can only stay for a week because of work though.” Mark’s head snaps up at this, and Abby laughs. “Mark is my husband’s name too,” she explains.

“We’ll have to figure out a way to differentiate you two. Maybe call you Short Mark,” Jack teases.

“Hey, shut up! You’re shorter than me!” he objects.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re the shorter of the two Marks,” Jack sings smugly.

“Play nice boys,” Abby scolds, patting her brother’s leg. Her smile betrays her serious tone, though.

“Oh, this _is_ nice for them,” Signe snickers.

\-----

“Ma! I missed you!” Jack says when she meets them on the porch. He hugs her tightly, lingering for a minute. Mark watches them with a fond smile and pretends not to notice the unshed tears in his eyes. Abby sneaks past them into the house, presumably to hunt down her husband and son.

“I missed you so much, Jack,” his mother returns. She kisses him on the cheek and pulls away to look at him, laughing slightly as she ruffles his hair. “I always forget it’s green now.”

Jack steps back, chuckling. He runs a hand through his hair and agrees, “Yeah, it takes a while to get used to. For the first few days, I scared myself every time I passed a mirror.”

Turning her attention to their guests, his mother pulls Signe into a hug. “Good to see you again, dear. I’m glad you decided to come.”

“Of course I did,” Signe says, smiling. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mom.”

“And you must be Mark,” she says, finally moving to hug him, too.

Mark looks to Jack with wild eyes, but he just shrugs with a helpless smile. He hugs her back awkwardly, and when she lets go, he says, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. McLoughlin.”

“Oh please! You can call me Mom, too. You’re one of the family now, aren’t ya?” All he can do is blink at her as the tiny whirlwind of a woman leads them into the house, almost speaking more quickly than he can keep up with. “I let your Pa sleep in since we didn’t know what time your plane would arrive, but I’ll go wake him up now that you’re here. He can make some breakfast while you catch me up on everything that’s happened.”

She disappears, leaving them alone in the living room. Mark collapses onto the couch and lets out a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. “Jeez, your mom is… really something.” He hasn’t quite decided yet whether that something is good or bad.

Signe laughs as they sit on either side of him. “Yeah, Flor is a lot to take in at first. She’s a great woman, though, and she’s treated me like one of her own since the day we met. Looks like she’s already taken to you in the same way.”

“Flor?” Mark asks, surprised to realize that he had never actually heard her name before.

“Yep. Short for Florence. Don’t let her hear you call her that, though. She’s really insistent about the ‘Mom’ thing.”

He groans. “Our parents really wanna hurry things along, huh?”

Jack laughs. “Is that what your mom’s ‘interrogation’ was about?”

“Yeah. She’s already asking about grandkids. I think maybe we’re skipping a few important steps there,” he says. Silently, he adds, ‘Like marriage. God, it’s too early to even be thinking about that.’

“Well, we’ve got plenty of time to think about all that later,” Jack says. He pats Mark’s leg, and the look in his eyes makes Mark wonder if maybe they _are_ things they’ll be thinking about sooner rather than later. The thought makes his heart race, but it isn’t nearly as terrifying when he’s staring at Jack’s smiling face, and he can’t resist stealing a quick kiss.

“Ew!” a young voice sounds from the doorway, and all three of them jerk around to see a young boy pointing at them.

“What’s ew?” Abby asks, following him into the room.

The little boy keeps pointing. “Mommy, Uncle Jack and that guy were _kissing_ ,” he says, drawing out the word in disgust.

His mother laughs. “Oh come on, you see Mommy and Daddy kissing all the time!”

“That’s gross, too!”

“Alright, alright. Never mind that; go give your uncle a hug.”

The boy rolls his eyes but follows her directions anyways. “Hi, Uncle Jack,” he says, holding his arms open wide.

“Hi, Davy,” Jack replies, lifting his nephew onto his lap. He hugs him and ruffles his hair. “I’ve missed you, bud. How’ve you been?”

“Good. It’s summer break!”

“Oh, yeah, it is. Are you happy about that?”

Davy stares at him thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging. “I guess so, but I like school. It was kinda scary at first, but my teacher’s really nice and I made lotsa new friends!”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll get to see them when summer’s over.”

“Mmhmm… Oh! Tommy’s house is close to ours, so I still get to play with him!”

“That’s good!”

“Yep! By the way, who are they?”

Jolted by the sudden change of subject, Jack follows Davy’s point. Signe and Mark are watching them, looking like they’re about to start cooing and teasing him. He looks to his sister, slightly panicked, and after a few seconds of thought, she nods. “It’d probably be better to get him used to the idea now, before he learns from some assholes in the rest of the world that it’s not okay.”

Jack cringes, trying to cover his nephew’s ears so he doesn’t hear his mother cursing, but she just laughs. “That’s my girlfriend and my boyfriend. Signe, and Mark,” he says, pointing to them in turn.

“Oh. I didn’t know you could have two.”

Jack takes a moment to consider how to explain it to the child, then says simply, “A lot of people only want one, but some people have more.”

“Oh, okay. Hi Mark, hi… Seena?”

“Close,” Signe answers, smiling gently. “You can call me that if you want. Nice to meet you, Davy.”

“Hi Davy,” Mark says with a small wave.

The boy waves back, wiggling restlessly. After a minute, he jumps off his uncle’s lap. “You wanna see my new dinosaur?”

“Sure, bud.” His nephew runs out of the room, and Jack sinks in his seat, chuckling nervously. “I can’t believe he took it so well.”

“Little kids don’t care about any of that,” Abby says. “They haven’t learned any different yet. I never bought all that bullshit about ‘I don’t want to have to explain homosexuality to my children!’ Like, I guarantee that nine times out of ten, they’ll accept it a lot more easily than adults will.”

“Yeah, I guess--” He cuts himself off when Davy runs back into the room, arms full of dinosaur toys. He dumps them on the floor and beams up at Jack.

“This is it,” he says proudly, holding up a stegosaurus. “He’s my favorite!”

“Ooh, he looks cool,” Jack says, voice pitched to show the appropriate amount of awe.

“Yep! I brought more, too, so you guys can play with my old ones,” he says. “Which ones do you wanna play with?”

The three of them share a relieved smile before each picking up a toy, joining Davy in his game. For the next hour or so, he leads them through his imagined world, which Jack later realizes wasn’t so imagined after all.

(It turns out that Davy is a big fan of the Land Before Time movies.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a couple of questions for anyone who doesn't mind potential spoilers. I'm interested in seeing your opinions. http://beccabear93.tumblr.com/post/145739884708


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to everyone who answered my questions, here and on tumblr. I'm sorry I couldn't respond to you all individually, but I probably would have given away major spoilers if I did. I will say this, though: Pretty much everyone gave the same answer, and I was honestly really surprised by it. It goes against pretty much everything I've seen in comments on my other fics and such. But again, thank you so much! Now, on with the story! :D

When Davy finally gets bored of playing dinosaurs with his new friends, he runs to Abby. “Mommy, can we go see the horses?”

“Sure, sweetie. Go grab your coat from the bedroom, but be quiet. Daddy’s still asleep.”

“Okay!”

Jack listens to the pitter-patter of little feet for a moment, but a sudden laugh covers up the sound. He jumps and turns to see a man standing in the entrance to the kitchen. “Pa! You’re awake? Why didn’t you come say hi?” He stands to hug his father, who pats his back before pulling away.

“Sorry, it looked like you were having a lot of fun,” he says with a smirk. “I didn’t want to interrupt you, so I decided to finish breakfast before I intruded.”

“You’re ridiculous. Davy would’ve gotten over it, and _we_ obviously wouldn’t have minded, right--?” He turns to face his lovers, but cuts himself off when he sees Mark frozen in his seat. “Uh… Just a sec, Pa.”

Jack marches past the couch and into the hallway, pulling Mark up as he goes. Davy runs past them, dragging Flor along with him, and Jack waits until they’re out of earshot to ask, “Are you okay?”

“He’s gonna kill me,” Mark responds, face pale.

Jack chuckles. “No he’s not. Why the hell would ya say that?”

“Your father is huge, and completely capable of murdering me. And he’s going to, as soon as he finds out we’re together.” He looks to Jack with wide eyes, silently pleading.

Much to his dismay, his boyfriend nearly doubles over in laughter. “Ya moron! He already knows! If you couldn’t tell by Ma’s reaction to meeting you, and by the fact that they wanted you to come in the first place, I told ‘em ages ago!”

“…But he hasn’t killed me yet. So he’s not going to?” Mark pieces together, a relieved giggle bubbling out of his throat.

“No! I love who I love, and I’m lucky enough to have a family that’s okay with that. I wouldn’t have brought you along if I wasn’t completely sure we’d all be safe, both physically and mentally,” Jack promises. “You really worry too much sometimes, ya know that?”

“I guess so,” Mark answers, and a few seconds later, he bursts into laughter that’s half self-deprecation and half relief. It gets stronger and stronger until he can’t breathe and is squatting on the floor.

“Uh, are you sure you’re okay?” Jack questions, kneeling next to him and snickering.

“Yeah, it’s just… You’re right,” he gasps. “I _am_ a fucking idiot, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, I get it. You’re just worried,” Jack says, rubbing his back. “But you care _too_ much. Let’s just forget about all that for a while, okay? Everything’s fine here and nobody’s going to judge us, so just act like it’s a normal vacation, alright?”

Mark nods and falls back into a sitting position. He leans against the wall and focuses on calming down for a few minutes, peals of laughter turning to occasional hiccups to even breathing. Avoiding Jack’s gaze, he tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling instead. “I guess it’s just hard for me to believe there’s a safe place outside of our home,” he admits eventually.

“Oh babe,” Jack says sadly. “Well, this is my other home, and I hope that you’ll see it as yours by the time we leave, too.”

Mark nods and takes a deep breath. “Alright, let’s go back out there. Your dad and sister probably think I’m insane now.”

Jack just shrugs with a smirk. “We’re all a little crazy around here. Would be any fun otherwise, would it?” He stands up and holds out a hand to help Mark up too, before leading him back to the living room. His father shoots him a worried look, but Jack just shakes his head and pulls his boyfriend over. “Pa, as you probably guessed, this is Mark.”

“Conor,” he says, shaking Mark’s hand. “Nice to meet you, boy.”

“You too, sir.”

The older man laughs. “Just my name is fine, Mark. No need for ‘sir’ or any of that nonsense.” Mark nods his understanding, and then Conor waves them into the kitchen, gesturing for Signe to join them as well. “Let’s eat, yeah? Where’d your sister go?”

“Abby already left with Davy and Mom to see the horses,” Signe answers as she stands up.

They take their seats around the dining room table, Mark sandwiched between Jack and Signe, and Jack’s father at the head of the table. Mark takes a look at the food spread out around them and nearly drools. “This all looks fantastic, si—Conor. Thank you.”

“No kidding,” Signe says as they all start to dish up omelets, bacon, fruit, and fried potatoes. She takes a bite and lets out a quiet moan. “I guess we know who Jack gets his skills from.”

“Thank you, I’m glad you like it. Eat as much as you want, I can always make more.”

Suddenly a man with messy brown hair stumbles into the room, rubbing his eyes. “Is that breakfast I smell?”

“Yep. Good morning, Mark.”

Mark jolts before realizing that the comment wasn’t directed at him. Jack elbows him under the table, and he shakes his head and laughs at his own automatic reaction.

“Did you make any coffee?” the newcomer asks.

“No, but feel free to start a pot.”

“Alright. Anybody else want some?” They all give positive answers, and he starts up the coffee pot. Once it’s running, he turns back and his face immediately scrunches in confusion as he looks at their faces. “Uh, Pa?”

“Yeah?”

“Where are Abby and Davy?”

“Out with the horses.”

“Ah, I should’ve known. By the way, good morning Pa, Jack… And Signe and Mark, I’m guessing?” he says with a chuckle.

“That’s us,” Signe confirms. “Good morning.”

“This one’s Short Mark,” Jack says, giggling as his boyfriend glares daggers at him.

The other man laughs. “Doesn’t look like he likes the name much. How about I just go by my real name to avoid confusion instead?”

“Alright, but it’s gonna be really weird trying to remember to call you Marcus. I’m not sure I’ve ever called you that in my life,” Jack says.

Marcus just shrugs and pours the now-finished coffee for everyone before taking a seat. They all thank him and fall into silence as they eat.

A few minutes later, the others get back to the house and join them at the table. “Jack, if you all aren’t too tired, you should take Signe and Mark into town today and show them around. If you didn’t get enough sleep on the plane, though, there’s always tomorrow,” Flor says.

Jack shoots them a questioning look, and they shrug. “I’m up for it if you wanna go,” Mark says.

“Alright. We’ll go in a few hours, after all the shops are open. That’ll give us a few hours to nap, too. Anyone else wanna come?”

Abby looks at her husband pleadingly, and he shrugs. “I can take David for a few hours.”

“Thank you, sweetie!” she gushes, pressing a kiss to his lips. Davy’s face scrunches in disgust, making Jack and Signe giggle when they catch it.

Jack is the first to finish his breakfast, so he takes care of his plate and pushes his chair in. “Thanks for the awesome breakfast, Pa. I’m gonna turn in for a bit. Feel free to join me when you’re ready,” he says, the last part aimed at his lovers with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Mark blushes, mortified by the implications Jack’s making around his family. He quickly realizes that nobody took it seriously, though, as quiet laughter fills the room.

Jack disappears, and Mark stares at his plate in awkward silence as he finishes eating. Signe and Flor strike up a conversation, though, and they easily coax him into joining. He and Signe finish their food at about the same time, and by then, he feels comfortable enough to thank Conor and follow his girlfriend to Jack’s room without too much embarrassment. “You’re still awake?” he asks, confused, when Jack hears them and opens his eyes.

“I can’t sleep without at least one of you here,” he admits sheepishly. Maybe the degree to which they’ve grown to rely on each other even for life’s simplest activities should be worrying, but Mark can only smile at the realization that he’s not the only one who’s fallen too hard. Jack sits up and eyes his bed in annoyance. “I forgot this thing is way too small for three people.”

“Well, I can take the floor if you’ve got a sleeping bag or an extra blanket or something,” Mark says. The thought of not being able to curl up with Jack and Signe for the entire time they’re here is frustrating, but so is the thought of them losing sleep because of the tight squeeze.

Jack shakes his head resolutely. “We’ll make it work.”

And they do. Mark takes the middle, each of his lovers awkwardly laying half on top of him. Elbows and toes hang over the edges, but they still manage to get comfortable enough to fall into a dreamless sleep until late morning.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will readily admit I cheated on this chapter. A lot of the time, when Jack talks about Ireland, it sounds SO much like Western Washington. And I know nothing about Ireland except what he says. So... The town in this chapter is based off a few that are very important to me--one that I visited on a trip with my grandma, and my birth city.
> 
> Also, I'm really sorry guys, but I'm going to be taking a brief hiatus after this chapter. Probably only... I don't know, two weeks or so? But, well, I just got a new job that I need to settle into, and... I'm getting really burned out on this fic, and on writing in general, since I've been writing nearly every night since November. And I don't want that to be reflected in what I post. I don't want to give you guys content that's even shittier than normal. So I'd rather take a small break and come back to it ready to put some real effort in. I hope that doesn't upset anyone too much.

As everyone puts on their coats and shoes, Jack turns to his mother. “Nobody else is here yet?”

“Don’t worry, they’re all coming tomorrow. Susan and Byron will only be here for the day, but Malcolm is staying for the full two weeks. I think he wants to make the most of it since he has a longer trip,” she says with a laugh.

“Awesome. Are the kids coming?”

“Not as far as I know. I don’t think we’d even have enough room in the house for all of them!”

Jack laughs. “Alright, so no more nieces and nephews, but you’ll get to meet all my siblings tomorrow,” he says, grinning at Mark.

“Sounds like it’ll be… interesting,” Mark says hesitantly.

“Oh, it will be,” he says, giggling mischievously. “A McLoughlin get-together is never boring, I can promise you that much.”

“And I’ll finally get to meet the infamous Malcolm,” Signe says.

“Oh, that’s right. He wasn’t around the last time you came here with me, was he?”

She shakes her head. “I’ve heard plenty of stories and we’ve tweeted some, but I haven’t actually met him in person yet.”

“You’ll love him,” Jack promises. “But we should probably go now. I think Abby’s getting antsy.”

Sure enough, she’s waiting for them on the porch, and she rolls her eyes when they come out. “Finally! Slowpokes,” she teases, sticking her tongue out before leading them back to the car. Jack starts to open the front passenger door, but she blocks him with her arm. “Hey, why don’t you let somebody else have a turn, mister?”

He holds his hands up in surrender and steps back with a laugh. “Alright, alright, jeez,” he says, climbing into the backseat instead.

Abby gets into the driver’s seat, and Mark and Signe are left staring at each other silently. After a moment, Mark steps away and gestures for her to take the front. “I’m usually driving anyways. I can take the back for once.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

\-----

As it turns out, the nearest town is a quaint little place, and Mark would barely call it a “town;” it’s really more like a “village.” It takes up a huge area, but only because everything is so spread out, and there are hardly any people out and about.

Abby parks at the end of what looks to be the main road, a long stretch of shops along a beach, and they all climb out. Mark stretches and takes a look around. “What’s with all the tourist shops?” he asks.

“It’s a popular place for short visits because it’s so peaceful,” Jack answers. “I see a lot of people who stop here for the day when they’re on road trips or something.”

“It’s so pretty,” Signe sighs, looking out over the water, a few boats dotting its surface in the distance.

“We’ll come back sometime when the sun’s actually out and you can swim,” Abby promises. “Let’s check out some of the shops for now.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

They start down the street, each of them pointing out anything that looks interesting. Their first stop is a tiny toy store, because Jack really is a kid at heart. He runs around giddily, and the elderly woman at the counter watches him with an indulgent smile. “Oh yeah!” he says suddenly, turning to his sister. “Let’s bring Davy next time so he can pick a present! I almost forgot!”

“Of course,” Abby replies. She laughs. “Besides, he’d be pissed if I went swimming without him.”

Jack continues his hunt and eventually finds a bin filled with plastic spinning tops. “Oh dude! I remember these things!” he exclaims. “These were pretty much the best things ever when I was a kid!”

“Get it. You know you wanna,” Abby says, nudging him with a smirk.

“I _will_ ,” he says mock-defiantly, grabbing three since they’re insanely cheap. “Anybody else getting anything?”

Mark leads Signe over and holds up his prize. “We found yoyos,” he says, trying to hide his own childish grin.

“Awesome. Abby, you getting anything?”

She smiles and shakes her head. “I’ll pass this time, thanks.”

“Alright.” They move to the register to pay for their toys, and Jack pauses, grinning at the others. He points to several small containers attached to the counter. “Want some candy?”

They each pile up a handful or two of the sweets, and the old woman giggles. “Looks like you’ll have some fun today.”

“Hey, you gotta act like a kid sometimes,” Jack says with a shrug.

“Oh, definitely. I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic or condescending.” With a secretive smile, she stage-whispers, “You think I don’t ever play with any of these toys when the shop’s closed?” They laugh, and she shuffles to the display case on the other side of the counter. She places a few brownies into a bag and hands it to Jack. “Here you go, one for each of you. It’s on me.”

“Wow, thank you so much,” he says, peeking into the bag. “You really don’t have to, though, I have money--”

“I insist,” she says, cutting him off. “Besides, we won’t get many customers on a day like this, and I wouldn’t want them to go stale.”

“Alright,” Jack relents. He shoots her a bright smile and repeats, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re welcome, son. Here’s the rest of your things.” She hands him the bag, and he leads the others out of the store, a skip in his step.

“That lady was so nice!”

“Jack, do you really not remember her?” Abby asks, eyebrow raised in disbelief.

He stops and turns to face her, confusion clear on his face. “Huh? Have I met her before?”

His sister laughs. “That’s Mrs. Walsh; she was our neighbor when we were little! She used to babysit us all the time!”

“Really? Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve seen her!” Jack takes a step as if to head back into the shop, but he can see through the window in the door that the old woman has already disappeared from the counter.

“Yeah, me too. I guess mom or dad must have told her I have a kid, though.” Abby holds up a little bag of her own. “She gave me an extra brownie and just said, ‘here’s one for your boy, too.’”

“Either that or she overheard me mentioning him,” Jack responds.

“Yeah, I guess that’s possible too,” she admits with a shrug. “Either way, she’s just as sweet as I remember.”

Jack nods and turns to continue down the road. “She was always my favorite babysitter. I don’t know how I could have forgotten about her!”

He starts on a story from their childhood, and Signe rolls her eyes at Mark but rushes after Jack and Abby. Mark starts to hurry after them, but slows down after a minute and stops to look at a window display. He glances anxiously at the others, but they don’t seem to notice his absence. He swallows nervously and takes a few quick looks between them and the jewelry in the window. Amongst the necklaces and earrings, a ring with a simple gold band and small diamond catches his attention, and he remembers the conversation with Jack earlier in the day and the look in his eye. Mark stares for a few seconds longer, then shakes the thought out of his head and runs to catch up.

\-----

The next store is picked out by Signe, who is intrigued by the perfumes and crystals in the window. They enter to the sound of quiet, peaceful music and the smell of books and incense. Signe disappears among the shelves while Abby steps away to look at some necklaces, but Mark hangs back with Jack.

“What is this place?” he asks curiously. The shop is crammed with so many things, to the point that a loft was added to fit more, and the collection seems completely random.

Jack laughs. “I’ll give you a hint,” he says, leading Mark farther in. He points to the display window. “Crystals. Incense. And…” He pauses to search a shelf, then hands his boyfriend a box. “This.”

Mark turns the purple box over, admiring the beautiful artwork of a fairy before reading the title. “Tarot cards. Ah. I think I’ve got it now.”

“Yep.”

He hesitates. “How weird would it be if I bought this? I mean, I don’t really believe in it, but it could be fun, and the art is gorgeous…”

“Mark. You can buy whatever you want. I’m not going to judge you for it,” Jack says, giggling. “Besides, I won’t claim that I’ve never bought anything here.”

“Oh really? And what might that be?” Mark asks with a smirk.

“…A palm reading book,” he answers after a moment, voice defiant despite the blush on his cheeks.

“Alright,” the other man replies with a shrug. “You don’t judge me, I won’t judge you.”

Jack nods decisively. “Good. I’m gonna go find Signe now.”

“Okay,” Mark agrees, turning back to the shelf and browsing the books. He stifles his laughter as his boyfriend all but runs out of sight.

A few minutes later, they gather at the register to show off their purchases. Mark has the box with tarot cards and a booklet, Signe has a pendant and a small vial of perfume, and Abby has a bag with several different sticks of incense and a holder for them. Jack raises an eyebrow at her. “Don’t tell me…” He trails off, and she shakes her head adamantly.

“No. No way. Not since I got pregnant with Davy. I just got used to the incense back then, and I still use the smell to relax every once in a while.”

“Good. I mean, I don’t really care, but… Davy.”

“I know,” Abby says. “Believe me, I wouldn’t risk anything happening to him.”

“Alright.” He goes silent as the shop owner finally appears to ring them up. Once they get out the door, he asks, “Anywhere else you guys wanna go?”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, until Mark eventually speaks up. “How about we just keep walking for a while? We can always stop if we spot something.” They start down the road again, and he turns his face skyward. The rain has lightened up, and all that’s left is the kind of mist that only seems to happen near the ocean. He pauses for a moment to take it in, feeling himself relax at the familiarity, before following after the others.

They’re nearing the end of the road and the beginning of the docks when Mark gasps. He peeks through a window and asks disbelievingly, “You have an actual old-school arcade here?”

Jack laughs. “Yep. I don’t know why, but nobody ever really comes here. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in there except whoever’s working at the time, myself, and my friends whenever I brought them.” He watches his boyfriend with a small smile, eventually asking, “Wanna play?”

“Hell yeah!” Mark exclaims. His eyes are filled with childlike excitement, but after a moment he sobers as he remembers the girls. “Um, but I don’t wanna bore you guys.”

Abby scoffs. “Please. I will whoop your ass at Area 51,” she says with a laugh.

“I’m up for it. I used to spend hours at a time playing pinball,” Signe admits sheepishly.

“Awesome!” Mark says before rushing inside. The others shrug and roll their eyes, but his enthusiasm is infectious and they’re all smiling as they enter the building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, just a reminder that this isn't meant to reflect Jack's actual family at all. Especially the implications with Abby and the incense. Honestly that was just me projecting again because, living and working in the area that I do, weed is all I think of when I smell that stuff.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you again in a few weeks! :)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is about the same length as the other chapters, but for some reason it feels really short to me. I wanted to post _something,_ though, because it's been almost a month since I updated this fic. I'm really sorry about that! I'll be working on it much more regularly now that both my job and the memorial are over and I have all the free time in the world for the next month and a half. With any luck, this fic will be complete... I don't know, sometime before the end of summer. Anyways, let's move on to the actual chapter!

When Mark, Signe, Jack, and Abby finally get back to the house, the sun has long since set, and they’re exhausted but smiling. As they walk up the porch steps, Jack gasps. “Gizmo!” he calls, voice high-pitched and excited. The little dog runs up, jumping to rest her front paws on Jack’s legs when he squats. “Hey, where were you hiding this morning, huh?” he asks, petting her and ruffling her fur. She licks his face in response, and he laughs even as he wipes off the slobber with a look of disgust. “I’ve missed you, girl! Look, we’ve got some visitors!”

Gizmo’s gaze follows Jack’s point, and she runs to jump all over the newcomers. Mark falls in love instantly. He sits on the porch so she can climb on his lap, paying no heed to the water that instantly soaks through his pants. She sniffs at him for a moment before licking his hand, turning in a circle, and laying down.

“Aww, she likes you!” Jack coos.

Abby laughs and points out, “She likes _everyone_. It’s not exactly an accomplishment.”

Mark ignores them in favor of scratching between Gizmo’s ears, delighting in the way her tiny tail thumps against his leg. “Well aren’t you just the cutest little thing?” After a moment’s consideration, he corrects, “Except for Chica, of course. No offense.”

Signe laughs as she bends down to pet the dog, too. “I don’t think she can understand you, Mark.”

“Well, you never know,” he says, sounding slightly defensive. “Dogs are smarter than you’d think.”

Signe opens her mouth to respond, but she’s cut off by a loud squeak from the door. They all look up to see a man with a shaved head coming outside, and Jack stands from his squatting position. “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow,” he says, though it sounds more like a question.

“Yeah, well, I thought I’d come early and stay for a night. I get the feeling we won’t have many chances to see you anymore, after all,” the other man says with a shrug. They give each other a one-armed hug, but after a moment he curls his arm, trapping Jack in a headlock. He gives him a quick noogie, and Jack groans as he lets him go.

“C’mon, man! I’m way too old for that shit!”

He laughs. “You’re never too old for me to torment you.”

Jack just rolls his eyes and turns back to his lovers. “This jerk is my brother, Byron.”

“Good to see you again,” Signe says, shaking his hand.

“You as well, m’lady,” he says jokingly, lifting her hand to press a kiss to it. Signe’s mouth twitches in slight annoyance, but she covers it up quickly.

Mark stands up, cringing as he notices how soaked his jeans are. “Nice to meet you, Byron,” he says, shaking his hand as well.

“You must be Mark,” he replies. His smile hardens a bit, but he says nothing except, “Pleasure to meet you.”

Abby coughs awkwardly and says, “We should go inside. It’s pretty wet out here, and I’m sure Davy’s whining for Mommy by now.”

Sure enough, Davy runs for her the moment they get through the door. “Mommy!” he yells, clinging to her legs. “Where were you?”

“I just went shopping, baby. But guess what? The nice old lady at the toy shop wanted me to give you this brownie!”

“Yay! Thank you, Mommy!”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. Do you wanna go play with your cars?”

“Yeah!” he answers excitedly, taking her hand and leading her into the guest room. Jack, Mark, and Signe follow, while Byron wanders off to talk to his parents.

Abby finally catches the frantic looks Jack’s been shooting her and slips her hand out of her son’s. “How about you play with Aunt Signe and Uncle Mark for a few minutes, okay, sweetie? I need to talk to Uncle Jack, and then I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, Mommy!” Davy says, plopping onto the floor. He starts babbling excitedly at Mark and Signe while the other two make their escape.

Jack leads Abby into an empty guest room, quietly closing the door behind them. “What was that all about?” he asks.

“What was what all about?”

“Byron! I thought we’d talked about it enough and everyone was okay with the whole polyamory thing! Why was he looking at Mark like that?”

Abby lets out a long sigh, averting her eyes. “I don’t think it’s the polyamory thing that bothers him. It’s the _man_ thing.”

“What?” Jack asks, brows creased. “But he’s never said anything about it to me, and I’ve been out for years!”

“Yeah, but you’ve never brought a man home, so he’s never had to deal with it so… directly before. And he’s never said anything because he doesn’t want to seem like the outright bigot that he is,” she says, lips thinning.

Jack watches her for a few moments before hesitantly asking, “Did something happen while I was gone?”

Abby huffs and says, “Byron and I had a… disagreement, to put it lightly. He’s just being an ass. But don’t worry, he won’t try anything or even _say_ anything as long as I’m here.”

“…Oh.”

“It’s alright, little bro,” Abby says, pulling him into a half-hug and rubbing his shoulder. “Just ignore him.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Are you okay?” she asks, taking in his lost expression.

“I… think so?” Jack shrugs, pushing her arm off in the process. Turning to face her with a furrowed brow, he says, “I guess I just thought everyone was supportive of my sexuality and my choices. It’s kind of weird to know that’s not true, and… Kind of painful, to be honest. I’m just being childish,” he finishes, hand unconsciously coming up to his chest.

“Hey, no, that’s not childish at all. It’s normal to be hurt if a family member disapproves of something you do. But that’s all on him, not you, and the rest of us are here for you 100 percent,” she says, taking his hand in both of her own.

“Thanks, sis,” he says, hugging her and hiding his face in her hair. She squeezes back tightly, and they stay like that for a few minutes before silently separating and heading back into the other room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, this chapter did not turn out anything like I planned, including the fact that Byron is a homophobic asshole. I think that might have been influenced by my anger at some of my own homophobic, creepy, and rude extended family members that I just saw for the first time in years. Also by the fact that it just seemed too perfect if every single member of Jack's family approved of their relationship.
> 
> But I hope you guys liked this update, and thank you so much for all the kudos, comments, and bookmarks! I'm really happy to see that so many people have been enjoying this series, and I promise I have no plans of abandoning it until it's finished.


	23. Chapter 23

A light knock on the door wakes Jack up not long after the sun has risen. He awkwardly untangles himself from between Mark and Signe and crawls out of the bed. Then Jack throws on whatever clothes he can find quickest; he ends up wearing one of Mark’s shirts, but he wouldn’t exactly complain about that. He probably has half of his boyfriend’s wardrobe not-very-secretly stashed among his own anyways.

“Yeah?” he says groggily as he opens the door, rubbing his eyes. There’s no answer, but when he lowers his hand, he sees Malcolm grinning and gesturing for him to follow. He does, and they make for the kitchen, where Jack makes a beeline for his precious coffee. “Everyone’s showing up earlier than expected,” Jack eventually says with a grin of his own.

Malcolm sits down with a shrug. “I had an early flight.”

“So did we.”

They’re quiet for a few moments, until Jack joins his brother at the table. “So, tell me what’s going on. How’s the family? How’s the band?”

“It’s all going great,” he answers with a genuine smile. “The kids are doing well, and the band is coming together slowly but surely. But what about you? I’ve only seen a bit of the overflow, but it’s enough to know there’s been plenty of drama lately.”

Jack waves the question off. “Part of the reason we came here was to get away from all that. I think it’s started to settle down a bit, though.”

“And… has Byron said anything?”

“Did everyone know about whatever’s going on with him but me?” Jack asks, irritated.

Malcolm shrugs. “I just heard about it from Abby. She was really pissed off on your behalf.”

“I’m sure,” Jack replies with a laugh. His sister had always been defensive of him; even when they were little, she always played the knight to his king rather than the other way around.

“Well, don’t be too upset about her not telling you. She just didn’t want to pile any more problems on your shoulders than you already had.”

Jack hums in vague agreement, and they lapse back into silence. The sizzling of the coffee pot stops, and he stands to make a cup. “You want some?” he asks, holding up a mug in offering.

“Sure. Thanks,” his brother answers. After a few seconds he says happily, “You know, I’m really looking forward to finally meeting Signe and Mark. They seem like great people.”

“They really are,” Jack answers, smiling down at his cup. He hands one to Malcolm before taking his seat again. “It probably won’t be too long before you meet them. I swear, they always wake up _way_ too early,” he says with a laugh.

“Or maybe you just stay up way too late,” Malcolm teases.

“Maybe,” he concedes.

They sip at their coffee, enjoying the peace of the morning before everyone else awakens. After a while, Malcolm speaks up again, startling Jack. “When Sue gets here, we should all go out. I can’t remember the last time we did something altogether, as a family.”

“Yeah, we should,” Jack agrees. He takes a moment to think, and is shocked to realize that he really can’t remember the last time they all got together, either.

“Oh, are we intruding?” a voice pipes up from the doorway.

Jack turns to see Signe leading a bleary-eyed Mark by the hand. “Told ya,” he says to his brother with a smirk.

Malcolm rolls his eyes and stands up. “Of course not, come on in. It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Signe,” he says, offering her his hand to shake.

She rolls her eyes, grins mischievously, and pulls him into a hug. “You too, Mally,” she says. He freezes in surprise for a moment before returning the hug. When they pull apart, she motions her boyfriend forward. “And this is Mark. Mark, this is Malcolm.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mark says, waving. He stifles a yawn, and Malcolm laughs.

“You too.”

Signe wanders around the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee with a liberal amount of creamer. She hands it to Mark, saying, “Here you go, sweetie. Wake up a bit.”

“Thanks,” he replies, pulling her to his side. He presses a kiss to the top of her head before releasing her. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” she answers, sitting down next to Jack. She takes his hand, but her attention turns back to Malcolm. “I look forward to hearing plenty of awkward childhood stories about Jackaboy here.”

“And I look forward to telling them,” he says with a smirk.

\-----

“—but he was so distracted that he fell right out of the tree! Squirt’s lucky he didn’t crack his head open or break an arm!”

Jack groans again, head buried in his arms on the table, and Signe laughs.

“Ooh, are we telling embarrassing stories about Sean?” a giddy voice asks from the entranceway.

Jack looks up. “Sue, hi! Save me! They’re torturing me!”

The newcomer laughs. “You think I’m here to _save_ you? Oh no, I just want to join in the fun,” she teases.

“Hi, Sue,” Signe says with a wave.

“Hello, Signe. How have things been going, dear?”

“They’ve been… going.” Sue hums in understanding as she sits down, and Signe quickly turns the subject away from herself. “This is our boyfriend, Mark. Mark, Sue.”

“Why are you making her do all the introductions, Jack?” Malcolm asks, but his question gets ignored.

“Nice to meet you, Mark. I’ve seen some of your YouTube videos,” Sue says as they shake hands over the table.

“Oh, really?” he asks, pink dusting his cheeks. “I was kind of hoping none of you had watched them, to be honest.”

“Yes, they’re… very interesting,” she says politely.

Mark laughs. “It’s okay, I know they’re not exactly everyone’s thing.”

“Don’t be offended; she doesn’t like mine either,” Jack says, snickering.

“Well, I don’t really _dislike_ either of your videos,” Sue replies carefully. “Besides, if you’re having fun and doing what you love, that’s what counts. It shouldn’t matter what I or anyone else thinks.”

“I completely agree,” Mark says with a soft smile.

“So!” Malcolm interrupts, standing and clapping his hands together. He looks to Jack. “Sue’s here now.”

“That she is,” Jack agrees. “Where did you want to go?”

“I don’t know…” He drifts off, face twisted in thought.

“What’s going on?” Signe asks.

“Mally thought we should all go do something, but we don’t know what.”

“Well, we could all go swimming, like we were talking about yesterday.”

“I’m fine with that,” Jack says with a shrug. He glances around the room. “Does anyone else object?”

“Well, I don’t have a bathing suit…” Sue says hesitantly.

“I don’t think any of us do,” he replies. “We’ll be going sooner or later, though, so we might as well go buy them. But if you’d rather do something else, we can wait ‘til a different day.”

She shakes her head. “I’m fine with that. It’ll be fun.”

“I’ll just swim in shorts,” Malcolm says. “I’ll stay here you guys shop.”

“Are you sure?” Signe asks worriedly, not wanting him to be left out.

“Yeah, I could use some time with Mom and Dad anyways,” he reassures her.

“Alright…”

“Well, if that’s settled… Who’s going to be brave enough to try to wake Abby up?”

There’s silence for a few seconds, each person looking to the others. Finally, Sue rolls her eyes and raises her hand slightly. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Good luck!” Jack says with an overdramatic gulp. She flips him off as she leaves the room.

\-----

Signe peeks out of the changing room, watching as Abby does a slow spin in her black one-piece. “How does it look?”

“Looks great, dear,” Marcus answers, taking her hands and pressing a long kiss to her lips.

“Gross,” Davy sneers from his seat in the corner.

While they’re distracted, Signe hurries out of her own stall to stand in front of her boyfriends. “Do I look okay?” she asks, posing in her light orange bikini and tropical print sarong.

Jack, having already chosen something for himself, is sitting against the opposite wall. He looks up from his phone and shoots her a genuine grin. “You look amazing.”

Mark nods his agreement and steps toward her, but Byron appears seemingly out of nowhere and beats him to it. He takes her hand, kissing it again, and says, “You look gorgeous, Signe, as you always do.”

“Th-thanks, Byron,” she says, smile tight. She shoots a pleading look to Mark, who moves forward and wraps an arm around her shoulders. Byron quickly backs off, acting innocent and leaving to talk to his sister and her family instead. Signe shudders slightly, whispering, “I know he’s Jack’s brother, and I know he’s just messing around, but something about him makes me really uncomfortable.”

Mark squeezes her shoulders comfortingly. “Do you want me to do something? Or do you want to tell Jack?”

Signe hugs him quickly before shrugging his arm off and giving him a small smile. “Nah, it’ll be fine. I don’t wanna start any drama, and I can deal with just one day of the heebie-jeebies,” she says with a laugh. Then she disappears back into the stall, and Mark makes a face but doesn’t object to her decision.

“Have you tried yours on yet?” Jack suddenly asks, and Mark jumps, looking down at the swim trunks in his hand.

“Oh, right. Not yet,” he says sheepishly.

Jack rolls his eyes. “Well, hurry up then, slowpoke.”

“Alright, alright,” Mark says, waving him off and taking the stall next to Signe’s. The trunks fit perfectly, but he humors Jack anyway, exiting to do a quick spin.

Jack glances up and whistles. “Lookin’ good, Mark!”

Mark freezes. Jack sitting there on his phone, with the same expression and the same words, takes him back to Pax, to the night of their first kiss. He wonders if Jack remembered and did it on purpose.

That night, he was nervous and unsure of where they stood, of what was a joke and what wasn’t. Now, though, he knows that this is both, and he’s more confident. “Damn right I am!” he says, laughing and flexing.

There—that smile. Jack’s smile is a secret just between the two of them, and it confirms that the throwback was purposeful and that he noticed Mark playing along.

Mark smiles back gently, but the moment is shattered by a quiet cough from a few feet away. He looks over just in time to catch the tail end of Byron’s eye roll. Jack’s brother pointedly looks away from them, staring at the wall with his jaw clenched, but says nothing. Neither does Mark.

Neither does Jack, staring at the floor with a hurt and disappointed expression, and Mark wonders if there’s something he’s not telling them. After taking a moment to gather himself, though, Jack just looks up with a forced smile and says, “You should definitely go with that one.”

“Alright, babe.” He starts to enter his stall just as Signe leaves her, and she catches his arm.

Looking him up and down, Signe grins slyly. “That’s a good choice. You look great, sweetie,” she says, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. She squeezes his bicep, then releases him and falls back. “Now hurry up so we can go; everyone’s waiting on you,” she teases.

Mark rolls his eyes, but he can’t restrain a fond smile as he follows her instructions. Just before he closes the door, he catches a matching smile on Jack’s face in the mirror.

‘ _Whatever’s going on, it’ll be okay._ ’


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting pretty close to the end here. I think this fic will probably end at somewhere around 30 chapters, which is three times as many as I expected when I started writing it. It's been quite the ride, but don't worry, it's not over quite yet. We've still got a few wild turns left (some of which you'll probably like and some of which you won't).

“How’s it going, baby?” Signe asks, making her way up the beach with some difficulty. She plops down on the towel, cuddling up to Mark’s shoulder and looking up at him.

Mark shrugs. “Remind me why I bothered to get these?” he asks, pulling on the end of his trunks.

“So you could sunbathe? So Jack and I could ogle you?” she suggests with a laugh. Her voice softens. “But really… If you aren’t enjoying yourself, we can leave. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s fine,” he says, waving off her concerns. “As much fun as it is to watch you guys swim around and splash at each other, though, I think I might run up to one of the shops and buy a book or something.”

“Oh, c’mon… Let’s just leave, okay? I don’t want you to be stuck up here reading all by yourself,” Signe says, pouting.

Mark laughs and gives her a quick kiss. “It’s _fine_. Besides, it’s been a really long time since I’ve actually been able to sit down and relax and read. I actually can’t remember the last the last time I finished a book,” he admits, a bit embarrassed.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“I’m not sure they’d actually let you in to the store,” he says, chuckling. “You’re soaked.”

Signe glances down at herself as though she’d forgotten about that fact and blushes lightly. “Oh. Right.”

“Go have fun with everyone else,” Mark says, nudging her away. “I’m perfectly alright up here, I _promise_. Just splash Jack a few times for me, okay?”

“Alright, alright,” she replies with a grin. She kisses his cheek and then stands up, waving before heading back. Mark watches Signe with a soft smile until she’s in the water again, then turns to dig his shirt out of their bag.

\-----

“That was so much fun!” Signe says, melting into her seat in the car.

“Yeah,” Jack agrees. Turning to his nephew, he asks, “Did you have a good day, Davy?”

“Mmhmm! Thanks for the plane, Uncle Jack!” he says, flying his new toy in zigzagging lines in front of him.

“You’re welcome, buddy.”

“Did you have fun, Mark?” Signe asks, still worried.

He nods and gives her a reassuring grin. “Yeah. Actually, I made it through more than half of this book, and it’s _really_ interesting so far.”

“What’s it about?” Jack asks.

“It’s a mystery about this woman who thinks her daughter is in danger and is obsessed with finding her, but nobody else believes she even _has_ a daughter.”

“That sounds crazy!”

“It is. It’s really good, though,” he says, already opening the book again.

“Are we going to lose you until you finish reading that?” Signe asks.

“Probably,” Mark replies with a smile, completely unashamed. Signe, Jack, and Abby all laugh, but he barely notices, already halfway into another world.

\-----

“Did you all have fun?” Flor asks as they sit down for dinner. They’re all parked in the living room, since the table isn’t big enough for anyone.

“Yeah, it was great,” Sue says. Her grin fades to a look of annoyance as she pulls at her stringy hair, still drenched in salt water. “Wish there was enough hot water for all of us, though. Oh well. I should head home after this, so I guess I’ll just take my shower there.”

“Sorry,” Marcus says, cringing guiltily. “Davy always says he feels gross after we go swimming, and he gets really upset if he can’t get clean quickly.”

“Oh, it’s not your fault,” she says with a forgiving smile. “Don’t mind me, I’m just being a bit pissy. I’m not actually mad at anyone.”

“Alright…”

“So!” Abby chimes in, destroying the silence before it can become too awkward. “What have you all been up to? Nobody’s bothered to call me in months!” she accuses jokingly.

“Well, you don’t exactly call us, either,” Malcolm says with a laugh. “It’s a two-way road, you know.”

Mark watches the exchange with a small smile, eating silently. ‘ _It’s been a long time since I’ve been part of a real family dinner_ ,’ he muses. He doesn’t feel bitter or jealous, or even nostalgic, just strangely relaxed and content to sink into the background of the chaos surrounding him.

\-----

After dinner, Sue and Byron say their goodbyes. With night settling in and two less people around, the house feels strangely quiet and empty. Mark, Jack, and Signe decide to retire early, but they all stop just inside the room. Jack makes a face at the bed and says, “Maybe I should ask if we can take Sue’s room, since she didn’t stay over. This bed can barely fit all t’ree of us.”

“Tree?” Mark repeats, giggling.

“Three,” Jack corrects himself. He rolls his eyes and says in a slightly bitter tone, “Sorry my speech isn’t up to par.”

“No, no, that’s not it at all!” Mark says, stepping up behind Jack and hugging him back against him. Laughing softly, he explains, “Your accent has just gotten a lot thicker again since we got here, and it’s really cute.”

“Shut up,” he says with a slight blush.

“No, I’m serious,” his boyfriend responds, pressing a light kiss to his neck. “I’ve kind of missed it. You became so Californian so fast,” he teases.

“You’re a dork,” Jack says, but he’s smiling. He kisses Mark before pulling out of his arms and leaving the room.

Signe falls onto the edge of the bed, and Mark joins her after a moment. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he asks, “Having fun?”

She nods. “The McLoughlins are crazy, but in the best way possible. I’m not sure whether to be jealous or not. It’s so fun to spend time with so many people, but so exhausting, too.”

“Definitely. I think when we get back to America, I’ll be ready to sleep for about a year.” He hesitates before asking, “Byron didn’t… say or do anything, did he?”

“No,” Signe answers, shaking her head. “He kept giving us weird looks, but he didn’t do anything else. He looked like he was about to at one point, but Abby intercepted him.”

“Okay. Good.”

Before they can say anything else, Jack returns. He grins and jokes, “Pack up your things; we’re moving!”


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually write every day. I still have been, but I wrote other random crap for three days in an attempt to avoid finishing this chapter. But it's done now.

The rest of the trip passes quickly. Mark finds that it’s surprisingly easy to fall into the rhythm of late mornings and days spent in town or lazing around the house and dinners with a family that he’s already starting to think of as his own. He itches to work sometimes, but someone is always ready with a distraction, determined to make him take a true vacation.

Mark and Signe are watching a late-night movie when Jack falls onto the couch between them, laying to rest his head in his boyfriend’s lap and his feet in his girlfriend’s. “Why is it so quiet?” he asks as Mark automatically starts carding his fingers through his hair.

Signe puts a finger to her lips. “We didn’t want to wake up your parents,” she whispered.

“Oh. Oops,” he says, quieter this time. “Anyways, since tomorrow’s our last full day here, I thought we should do something special.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Mark asks curiously.

“Well, I wasn’t sure, but Abby caught me in the hallway just a minute ago. She said the carnival’s open and that I should take you guys. We haven’t had a real date, just the three of us, since we came here.”

“That sounds fun,” Signe says.

“Yeah,” Mark agrees, “but is she actually going to let you drive her car?”

Jack turns away, facing the TV to try to hide his embarrassment. “Actually, that’s the one catch… She said you’d have to drive.”

“She’s trusting _me_ with her car?” he asks, an eyebrow raised skeptically. “That’s even weirder!”

Jack just shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess she just likes you, and unlike me, you have a license.”

“Will you, Mark?” Signe asks, her tone a bit pleading. “It’d be a great way to finish off our trip.”

“Well…” He hesitates. “I’m not opposed to it, but… It’s all backwards! I’ve never driven on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right and the gear shift on the left!”

“It’ll be fine. It’s an automatic, and I’ll show you where to take all the slow back roads, okay?”

Mark gnaws on his bottom lip, but one glance at Signe’s puppy dog eyes and he knows he’s already lost. Rolling his eyes, he relents. “Fine…”

“Thank you, honey!” she says sweetly, batting her eyelashes and leaning over Jack to kiss his cheek. Mark just laughs at her act.

“We’ll have tons of fun. I promise,” Jack says, grinning up at him.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he says, still chuckling.

\-----

“Wanna play some of the games first?” Jack asks.

Mark shakes his head. “That was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done. I’m kind of surprised we made it here in one piece, and I need to unwind before we attempt those irritating rigged games.”

The other man laughs. “Okay, what would you rather start with, then?”

Mark hums in thought and then points at a roller coaster with several loops, kids and adults alike screaming as they pass overhead. “How about that?”

“ _That’s_ your idea of relaxing?” Jack asks incredulously.

“Ooh, yeah, let’s go!” Signe says excitedly, clapping and bouncing on the balls of her feet like a child.

“If you insist,” Jack says with a shrug.

They get in the line, which is surprisingly short, and watch the riders ahead of them in silence. Once it’s their turn, Jack and Signe get the front row and Mark sits just behind them. He leans between them to tease, “Hold on for dear life!”

The ride starts, and Mark can feel the adrenaline start to kick in as they’re pulled slowly to the top of the first incline. Then it drops suddenly, and he whoops excitedly. Ahead of him, Signe laughs as she’s bumped out of her seat a bit, and Jack raises his arms in the air and shouts as they make the first loop. After that, he can’t watch them anymore, too focused on the sensations of his own stomach dropping to his feet and his heart climbing into his throat. He doesn’t stop laughing until they step off the roller coaster.

As they start walking to the next ride, Signe grabs his hand. “Somebody had fun,” she says, kissing his grin and fixing his wild hair.

Mark nods and swings their hands. “You choose the next one.”

“Hmm… How about the Zipper?” she suggests, pointing.

“Sounds good to me.”

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” Jack says, looking at the ride skeptically. “It looks like a metal death trap.”

“We can go on something else,” Signe says.

He shakes his head and makes a shooing motion. “Go, have fun! I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“While we do that, you figure out which one you wanna go on next, okay?” Mark says. Jack nods, and the other two jog over to the Zipper.

Signe clings to her boyfriend’s hand until they get to the front of the line, excited but nervous. “Our turn,” she says, and they climb into the car. Mark laughs at her squeak when they start moving, and she smacks his arm. “Shut up!” Then the ride speeds up and they flip upside down, and Signe grasps for the bars, alternating between screaming and laughing until her feet touch solid ground again.

“How was it?” Jack asks when they reach him.

“Terrifying and amazing,” she says with wide eyes. “I’m definitely going on it again at some point before we leave.”

“Okay, well, how about something a little calmer for now?”

“Sure, what were you looking at?” Signe asks, looping her arm through his.

“The tea cups.”

Signe side-eyes him. “That’s not going to be calm and you know it.”

“What do you mean?” Mark questions, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “It doesn’t go upside-down or have any sudden drops or anything.”

“Jack likes to spin them as fast as possible and make everyone nauseous,” she answers in a jokingly accusing tone.

“Hey, I don’t try to get everyone sick!” Jack defends. He waits a beat and then laughs, adding, “That’s just a side effect.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just go,” Signe says with a chuckle. “At least I won’t be the only victim this time.”

\-----

“Okay, we’ve been on every ride, Jack has nearly made me barf on the tea cups twice now… What next?” Mark asks, ignoring Jack’s miserable attempts at hiding his evil giggles.

“Games now?” Signe suggests. “Or food?”

“Food!” Jack says excitedly. Mark laughs, picturing little doggy ears perking up on him.

“Alright. We have to get an elephant ear, though.”

“Just the thought is gonna make me drool!”

They get their food and some lemonade, then sit on a bench while they dig in. “Okay, so games next?” Mark confirms, and the other two nod.

“Ooh, look at that!” Signe says, pointing to a stuffed animal hanging in one of the booths.

“What, the blue dog?” Jack asks. She nods, and he points out another one. “What about that walrus? It’s so derpy! I bet I can win ‘em both.”

His girlfriend raises an eyebrow. “Really, Jack? You think your aim is that good? It’s gonna cost like 50 euros!”

“We’ll see,” he says, smiling secretively. He walks to the booth and hands over his money in exchange for some darts, and his lovers follow behind, shaking their heads in fond exasperation.

It takes a while, but Jack eventually pops enough balloons to win both toys. He hands the dog to Signe and holds up the walrus proudly as they walk away. “See? I told you I could do it! And it only cost…” He pauses, counting up his attempts in his head. “40 euros, not 50! So ha!”

Signe cringes a bit, but hugs the toy to her chest and kisses Jack’s cheek. “Thank you, sweetie. That was very romantic,” she says with a laugh. “Now Mark’s gonna feel left out, though.”

“Huh?” Mark asks, surprised by the conversation suddenly turning to him. He holds his hands up in denial and smiles. “No, no, it’s okay. I’m not a big stuffed animal person. I’m glad you guys got what you wanted, though.”

“Oh, c’mon, Mark,” Jack says, bumping into him with a grin. “Stop trying to be all macho and shit.”

“That’s really not--”

“Yeah, you can’t be the only one without a prize,” Signe insists. Stopping in front of a booth, she says, “Here, I’ll win you something. I’m really good at this game, so just pick which one you want.”

Before he can object, she’s handing her money over and taking a seat with the three other players. Mark rolls his eyes but relents. “Okay… That one, I guess,” he says, pointing to a smiling red monkey.

“Aww, that’s cute. It looks just like you!” Jack coos, laughing and dodging when his boyfriend swipes at him.

“Alright, that one only takes one win. Easy,” Signe says, aiming as the countdown begins. An alarm blares, and water sprays out of her gun and into the clown’s mouth. Within a few seconds, the pillar in front of her is flashing and she’s pointing out her prize. She hands the monkey to Mark with a smug smile.

“Thanks, babe,” he says, huffing out a laugh. He wraps one arm around her and the other around Jack, pulling them close. Looking out at the oranges and pinks on the horizon, he says, “They’re probably gonna close soon. Is there anything else either of you wanna do before we leave?”

Jack shrugs, and Signe stifles a yawn before saying, “Actually, I’m getting a bit tired. It’s been a really fun day, though.”

“Yeah,” Mark agrees. “The whole trip has been great.”

“I can’t believe we’re already leaving tomorrow,” Jack says.

“I’m sorry. I wish we could stay longer. I know you’ll miss home.”

Jack rests his head on Mark’s shoulder and bites his lip. After a few seconds, he says, “I mean… I’ll miss my family and all, but I think… Home is wherever you two are.”

Mark smiles sappily and presses a kiss to the top of his head, saying nothing.

\-----

“Okay, so what time are we leaving tomorrow?” Mark asks.

“Two. In the _afternoon_ ,” Jack says emphatically. “I am not taking another flight at the ass crack of dawn.”

“Alright, well, let’s get everything packed tonight, so we can spend the morning with your family. We should probably look through your room too, just in case we missed any--”

Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires interrupts Signe. Before Mark can even turn to see what’s happening, there’s the sickening crunch of metal and the painful impact of his head hitting the door and an airbag in his face. The last thing he hears before he blacks out entirely is Jack’s heart-stopping scream of pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. Please don't kill me.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually make sure that the next chapter is at least partially written before posting the current one, but I didn't want to leave you guys with that cliffhanger for too long, so I didn't do that this time. Keep in mind, that means you get this stupidly short chapter now, but the next one might take a little longer than usual.

“Hey guys, sorry for the radio silence the last few days. I know a lot of you have been worried, but umm…”

Mark stops, looking away from the camera as he fights to see through blurry eyes. Not for the first time, he considers not uploading this video. He doesn’t want to worry anyone, but he knows that it’s pointless. The fans will only worry more if he doesn’t tell them what’s happened. He takes a deep breath, blinks away the tears, and starts again.

“As many of you know, I’ve been in Ireland with Jack and Signe for the last few weeks, visiting Jack’s family. Well, we’re going to be here a bit longer than planned. We were involved in a car accident on Saturday. Now, don’t worry, everyone’s alive!” he hastens to reassure, waving his hands in front of him.

“Uh, Signe and I made it out with just some bumps and bruises, but J--…” He pauses again to gather his bearings. “Jack fractured two ribs and got pretty bad whiplash.”

“He’s been out of commission, mostly knocked out from the pain meds, but he’s alright. Actually, he looks pretty ridiculous when he has the giant neck brace on,” Mark attempts to joke, but it sounds pathetic even to his own ears. He scrubs a hand over his face and says, “Anyways, I just wanted to give you an update on what happened and ask for your patience and support. Right now my main priority is taking care of Jack, and it’s going to be a while before either of us is back to uploading regularly. But for now…” He straightens up, falling into autopilot for his outro. “Thank you, everybody, so much for watching, and as always… I will see _you_ in the next video! Bye-bye!”


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've got it all planned out now, and chapter 30 will definitely be the end (including an epilogue). I'm sorry if the pacing is weird, but there's quite a bit to wrap up and I'm really looking forward to starting my next writing project (which, yes, will be Septiplier. Or AntiDark. One of the two). Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this slightly-longer-than-usual update. The rest of them will be pretty short, but there should be another chapter up tomorrow.
> 
> Disclaimer: I've never had broken ribs or whiplash, and the closest I've gotten to PCS was a concussion when I was like 9. Sooo almost all of my info came from webmd and one other site I can't remember now. Hopefully it's not horribly inaccurate.

After making sure that his update has posted properly to YouTube, Mark shuts the computer off and heads down the hall. It’s been four days since the accident, but everything still kind of feels like a blur, like nothing’s quite real. _Then again, maybe that’s just the post-concussion syndrome talking._ As if on cue, his head throbs. He ignores it as much as he can.

Mark pauses in the entrance to the living room. Signe is sitting on the couch, reading and holding Jack’s hand across the space between them. Jack is propped in the recliner, and it doesn’t seem quite right. Mark can’t understand why he wasn’t kept in the hospital for more than a single day.

Signe sits up when she notices him, shooting him a weak smile. “Hey,” she says. He gives he a small wave, and she gestures to Jack. “He’s awake now.”

“Alright.”

“Are you good to take over? I need a shower.”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.” She stands and stretches, pressing a kiss to Jack’s forehead and squeezing Mark’s hand before leaving the room.

They didn’t necessarily need to keep a watch on their boyfriend. It felt wrong to leave him for any length of time, though, so at least one of them was always there. His family check on him frequently as well, his mother hovering anxiously while Davy fidgets and pats his hand, unsure of where he can touch Jack without hurting him.

Mark can’t look at Jack’s parents without feeling like the guilt is swallowing him. They don’t blame him; of course not, they’re far too nice for that. Deep down, he knows he shouldn’t blame himself, either. A drunk driver had run a red light—that wasn’t his fault. It doesn’t stop him from feeling like it is, though.

He’d tried to apologize to Abby as well, but she’d just scolded him. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have asked for you to drive in an unfamiliar country in the first place. My brother’s alive, and that’s all I could possibly ask for.” Half-joking, she’d added, “Besides, my insurance covered the car repairs, so that’s all good, too.” After that, she hadn’t taken any of his self-pitying bullshit, and he’s glad for it. It’s good to have someone to whip into shape and keep him focused on the more important things—like taking care of Jack.

“Hey, baby,” Mark says, taking his boyfriend’s hand as he stands next to the chair. “It’s good to see you awake again.”

Jack smiles tiredly. “You act like I’m passed out all the time.”

“Well, pretty damn close.” He checks his watch and sighs. “Alright, time to get some ice on your neck and take some more ibuprofen. I’ll take mine too.”

“’Kay.”

Mark disappears into the kitchen, returning with two cups of water, the pills, and an ice pack. He helps Jack remove the neck brace and sit up a bit farther. They down the painkillers simultaneously, and then he pushes the recliner back again.

As he carefully settles the ice behind Jack’s neck, he notices the other man’s quick, shallow breaths. “C’mon, baby,” he half-pleads, brow wrinkled in a combination of worry and sympathy. “You have to take deep breaths.”

“It fucking hurts,” Jack whines.

“I know, baby, but I’m not letting you get fucking pneumonia.”

Jack rolls his eyes but complies, wincing through the longest inhale and exhale he can manage. “Happy now?”

“Yes.” He takes the seat that Signe had been occupying and reaches for Jack’s hand again, running his thumb over it soothingly.

“Jesus Christ, you two never leave me alone,” Jack jokes breathlessly.

“Do you want us to?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s nice to have the company, but… You act like I’m fucking dying.”

Mark hesitates, but eventually decides to just say what he’s thinking, even if saying it brings the emotions flooding back. “That first night, in the hospital, I was _so fucking scared_ ,” he admits, pausing after each word for emphasis. He squeezes Jack’s hand, but looks away out of fear that he’ll start crying just from the memories. “Part of me understood that… That you were in pain, but that you’d be fine. But another part of me was terrified every time you passed out from the pain or the medications… Some irrational but completely overwhelming fear that you wouldn’t wake up again. I fucking _hated_ seeing you laying in that hospital bed, and I swear, if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll kill you myself,” he finishes, choking on a forced laugh.

Jack’s face falls, and he pulls on his boyfriend’s hand until he gets the point. Mark stands to move closer, sitting on the armrest when he pulls again. Jack hugs him, tightly but carefully, and buries his face in his stomach. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. Mark runs a hand through the green hair, leaning down to hug him back. “I’m okay. I’m okay,” Jack repeats, until Mark’s grip on him loosens.

“You’re not leaving this chair until you’re healed.”

“What if I have to take a piss?” he asks, smirking.

Mark hesitates. “…Fine, but I’m carrying you to the bathroom.”

“I don’t think that would work out well for either of us. How about you just keep helping me walk there, like you have been?”

“…I suppose.”

“Can I be part of the hug-fest?” Signe suddenly asks from the entrance. The boys each hold a hand out towards her, and she joins them, leaning down to wrap them both in her arms. They pull apart after a minute, and she sits down before saying, “I can take over now if you want.”

Mark shakes his head but stands. “I wanna stay out here with you guys.” He takes a step toward the couch but has to stop, one handing going to his forehead and the other resting on the chair to balance him.

“Dizzy?” his girlfriend asks worriedly.

He nods. “And tired.”

Signe stands, taking his arm and walking him over to the couch. She pushes on his shoulders and he obeys, laying down. When she tries to leave, though, he catches her hand and carefully sits up, gesturing for her to sit down. As soon as she does, he falls back again, head resting in her lap. She opens her book up with one hand, and Mark falls asleep quickly to the feeling of the other absently carding through his hair.

\-----

When Mark wakes up, Signe has traded her book for her phone. He watches her in silence for a few minutes before speaking up. “What’s up?”

She jumps a bit, glancing down at him. “I didn’t realize you were awake.”

“I haven’t been for very long.”

“Oh, okay. Anyways, I’m just checking twitter and stuff.”

“How is it?”

“Everyone’s really worried, but they’re all sending lots of love and well-wishes.”

“For Jack?”

“For all of us,” she says, sounding slightly surprised. “Mostly Jack, though. They’re all really glad he’s okay.”

“Well, for a certain definition of ‘okay.’”

“Yeah.” Signe watches their sleeping boyfriend for a moment, frowning, and Mark squeezes her hand.

“Please tell me you aren’t getting hate messages anymore,” he says, just to distract her.

She looks back down at him and shrugs. “No, not really. With the time to cool off and now everyone being more concerned with _this_ , it’s pretty much died down.”

“Thank god.”

“You don’t have to be so protective of me, Mark. I got used to it.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have _had_ to!” he says, outraged on her behalf. He sits up, gripping her hands and looking into her eyes. “It’s fucking ridiculous!”

Signe puts a finger to her lips, looking pointedly at Jack. Mark rolls his eyes but shuts his mouth, and she rubs over his hands. “It’s okay. It’s over now.”

He sighs, the fight leaving him. “Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could’ve done something to stop it earlier.”

“We all do, but what’s done is done and we’re stronger for it.”

“Look at you, getting all motivational,” Mark teases. “Maybe Jack should put that on his whiteboard when we go back.”

Signe hesitates before asking, “When will that be?”

“The doctor said _at least_ a month,” he answers, forcing a smile.

“I’m glad Jack gets to be with his family for a while longer, but… I miss home.”

Mark’s heart clenches in his chest. He wavers, then thinks, _Fuck it_ , and takes the plunge. “Would you… I mean, obviously we’d have to talk to Jack about it, but… Would you want to move in with me? You already spend most of your time there anyways, and it would save some rent money, but I--”

“You’re rambling,” Signe says with a fond look. “I’d love to. And I know Jack would too, but we’ll talk about it more when he wakes up, okay?”

“Right. Right, of course.”

“You worry too much about how we’ll react sometimes. We love you.” She kisses him as if to prove it, and he lets her.

“I know. I just can’t help the dumb, rambly panic sometimes.”

“I know,” Signe says, smiling against his lips.

“I love you so much, and the idea of losing you to my own stupidity kills me.”

“You won’t lose me. You won’t lose Jack. You’re stuck with us.”


	28. Chapter 28

“It’s good to be home,” Jack sighs, sprawling out like a starfish on Mark’s—their—bed.

Mark watches him and can’t hold back his grin. After a long minute, he finally turns away. “I wonder where Matt and Ryan are. I told them we’d be back today.”

“Maybe they wanted to give us some space,” his boyfriend answers, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“No strenuous activity,” Mark scolds playfully.

“Oh come on! I’m doing fine, and it’s been like two months since we’ve had sex!” Jack bemoans. “Besides, it doesn’t necessarily _have_ to be strenuous…”

The other man rolls his eyes, but before he can respond, Signe appears. “Um… I think all the boys’ stuff is gone…” she says worriedly.

“What?” Mark follows her into the living room and finds that it’s true. “Maybe they just moved everything…” But when they check the bedrooms, they’re met with empty space, even the beds gone. Biting his lip, Mark digs his phone out of the suitcase and starts dialing, but is interrupted by the doorbell. He runs to answer it, and is greeted by Matt and Ryan’s smiling faces.

Matt waves cheerfully. “We brought someone to see you!” he says, moving aside so Chica can tackle her owner.

Mark sits down on the floor, and Chica climbs into his lap like she’s only half her size. “Where the hell were you? What happened to all your stuff?” he asks, petting her distractedly.

“Ah…” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and looks to Ryan for help.

“We moved,” Ryan says bluntly.

“Well, I’m glad you found a place, but… Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were already dealing with taking care of Jack and the internet drama, and you were supposed to be on vacation. We didn’t wanna add any more to your plate.”

“We were going to tell you when we found out what day you were coming back, but we kind of forgot,” Matt admits sheepishly.

“Oh. Okay,” Mark says, staring at the floor in shock. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I was starting to freak out.”

“Sorry.”

“Well, I’m sure you want some time alone with Jack and Signe now that you’re finally back, so we’ll get out of your hair now,” Ryan says, nudging Matt with his elbow. “We just wanted to say hello and drop off Chica.”

“Oh, yeah. Tell them we said hi, and call us sometime so we can catch up and show you the new place,” Matt says. “Bye!”

Mark barely has time to wave, and then they’re gone. He stays on the floor for a few minutes, patting Chica and feeling a bit like he just got run over by a steamroller. “What the hell?” he asks himself.

“Did I hear my bae out here?” Jack asks, shuffling into the room.

“Yeah, but they’re already gone,” Mark says, laughing. “I have no idea what just happened.”

“What do you mean, ‘they’re gone’?”

“They moved.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I knew they were planning to, but for some reason I thought it’d be after we got back.”

“Well, maybe it’s a good thing,” Signe says, appearing behind Jack. “I love them, but maybe five people under one roof would be a bit much.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they got sick of our mushy couple-y shit,” Jack adds, planting a sloppy, exaggerative kiss on her lips. Signe just laughs.

“Probably,” Mark agrees, chuckling. “Well, I guess we’ve got two empty rooms now. We could set up a separate recording space for you if you want, Jack, and maybe a guest room?”

“That’d be nice. Can we start now? I feel like I’ve been sitting still for an eternity! I’m sick of it!”

“Alright, but _we’ll_ be doing any heavy lifting.”

“Fine…”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I did a chapter that was basically just one a vlog from Mark, I wanted to do one for Jack too. So that's how we're finishing out here, and the epilogue will probably be up tomorrow.

_Wha-psh!_ “Top of the mornin’ to ya, laddies! My name is Jacksepticeye, and I am alive!” He laughs a bit, waving at the camera. “Yeah, hi, it’s me! I know some of you were pretty worried, but I’m okay! Thanks for all your support and well-wishes, though. It was really sweet to see that so many people care so much. I’m healing up nicely, though, and we are finally back in L.A. Speaking of which, you might have noticed that my recording space is a bit different.”

Jack gestures around the room behind him. “It’s mostly the same as before, but the door’s in the wrong spot and the wall color is different. Oh, and I changed the message on the board,” he says, pointing to where it says, _What’s done is done, and we’re stronger for it._ “I can’t take credit for that one, though. A certain awesome woman in my life said it, and a certain awesome man said it should be the next thing on my board. I think it’s a good thing to remember; like I’ve said before, no matter how shitty the past was, it made us who we are.”

“Anyways, I’m getting off-topic. So why the new room? Well… It’s a new house! I know, I know—two moves in such a short span of time is kind of weird, but… Signe and I moved in with Mark! Matt and Ryan moved while we were in Ireland, as you might have seen on their new channel, SuperMega. If you _haven’t_ seen it, then go check it out! And so we moved in instead, and it’s been…” He pauses, shrugging with a soft smile. “It’s really great.”

“Ah, so—I just wanted to give you guys a bit of an update, let you know that I’m okay and why the background is a little different before people started coming up with crazy theories. I’ll go before I can ramble any more, though. I know some new games have come out in the past month or two, and there’s a few that you guys have been requesting like crazy, so I’m really looking forward to checking those out. I should be coming back with my regular updates twice every day very, very soon, so long as Mark and Signe don’t actually tie me up to stop me from working too hard,” Jack says with a laugh. After a second’s thought, he shakes his head. “Don’t take that too seriously. I swear that they wouldn’t actually tie me up, and that my health is definitely good enough to just play some video games.”

“Anyways…” He does his outro quickly, then settles back in his chair, smiling broadly. “I really can’t wait to get back into it. I’ll see you all in the next few days! Bye!” Who says the bit after the outro has to be crazy or funny all the time? Sometimes the first thing that comes into his head is just the simple truth.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the epilogue. 30 chapters, over four months, and 36k+ words later, we've finally reached the end. I hope you guys have enjoyed it. If you have, my next fic will start going up very soon (possibly as early as tomorrow, but definitely no more than a week). I'm working on a lot of fics right now--4 Septiplier, 1 AntiDark, 1 Polygrumps, and 1 Hannigram (*gasp* something that's not RPF??)--and I am honestly really excited for all of them, so it'll be awesome if anyone feels like sticking around. :)
> 
> And now for the main attraction.

They can’t seem to agree on when their anniversary should be. Jack and Signe have a solid date, as do Mark and Jack. But they can’t decide whether or not it’s fair to lump their anniversary all together on the same day as Mark and Signe’s, since they were the last to get together. Eventually, they decide to the separate the days, and mark their anniversary together as the day that Jack and Signe moved to L.A. instead. In the end, it doesn’t matter much, because that’s the only one that they really celebrate; it just seems weird to have four different occasions.

This conversation happens in August, because of what would be Mark and Jack’s anniversary if they chose to do something for it. It’s a few months after that, in November, that Mark takes his lovers out for dinner. He tells them it’s for their six-month anniversary, and they laugh.

“I didn’t think you were the kind of guy to celebrate half-anniversaries,” Jack teases.

Mark just shrugs. The truth is that the box currently burning a hole in his pocket has been hiding in a shoebox under their bed for months. During their trip to Ireland, he had convinced Abby to help him sneak out and buy it, but at the last moment, he’d decided that it was too early. Now he simply can’t wait any longer.

He drives them to the restaurant, and Signe gives him a sappy smile when she recognizes their very first date spot. Mark grins back and takes one of her hands and one of Jack’s, leading them inside.

It’s every bit as fun as the first time, but so much more romantic. Mark’s taken the time to learn not only how to pronounce the dishes, but also what they actually _are_ , and he’s managed to pull some strings to get them a secluded, candle-lit table in the corner. It’s about the time that they sit down that Jack starts to look slightly suspicious, but he doesn’t say anything, just smiles impishly into his wine glass.

After dinner, they walk to the closest park, and Mark leads them to a pond surrounded by old-fashioned lamps. While Signe is distracted by the light reflections on the water and Jack by the stars in the sky, he takes the moment to breathe and try to calm himself. Then he kneels.

The sudden movement draws the others’ attention. Signe gasps. Jack hides his smile behind his hand. Mark finally pulls out the box that’s been weighing down his pocket all night.

He takes another deep breath and tries to remember the speech he’d practiced again and again. A few words and phrases stick out in his head, but most of it is blown away by his own nerves and the sight of his lovers’ faces. Mark drops his head for a moment, huffing out a laugh at himself, before looking back up at them and winging it. “Jack. Signe,” he says, opening up the box to reveal the matching rings. “I love you both so much, and you mean the world to me. This has been a crazy whirlwind of a year, and it’s been the best I’ve ever had. It would make me the happiest man on the planet if I could wake up next to both of you every day for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, Mark!” Jack says, pulling him to his feet to kiss him. Signe is crying, too choked up to say anything, but she nods and kisses him as well. Mark sags a bit, relieved laughter bubbling out of him as he slides the rings onto their fingers.

Signe pulls her fiancées closer, resting her head on Mark’s shoulder and clinging to Jack’s hand. “I love you,” she whispers through her happy tears, and they echo the sentiment.

Then there’s clapping and cheering, and they all turn to see Matt and Ryan reveal their not-so-hidden spot behind a bush. “I got it all, Mark!” Matt says proudly, gesturing to the camera in his hand.

“And I got it on my phone, and it’s already been sent to Bob and Wade,” Ryan says, clapping him on the shoulder when they get closer. Jack laughs and pulls them into the hug.

“I’m so proud of you, man,” Matt whispers into Mark’s ear. “And so happy for you.” The other man grins, squeezing him tightly for a few seconds before pulling away.

“So what do you say we all go celebrate?” Ryan suggests. Voices chorus in agreement, and Mark takes his fiancées hands again before leading the way. “Uh-uh-uh. Keys?”

Mark stares at Ryan’s hand in confusion. “Why?”

“Because you probably had too much ‘liquid courage’ in the form of ridiculously expensive wine, and I’m not letting you drive like that.”

“I only had one glass,” he objects, rolling his eyes, but he hands over the car key anyways. Quieter, with a small smile, he adds, “Thanks.”

When they get to the car, Mark climbs into the back, and his lovers squeeze in on either side. As Ryan starts the car, Matt turns in his seat to look at them, face scrunched in slight worry. “Hey, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… Are polyamorous marriages even legal here?”

“Nope,” Mark answers bluntly. He shrugs, laughing sheepishly. “But I’m sure we’ll figure out how to do things our own way.”

Jack and Signe smile and squeeze his hands tightly.

“We always do.”


End file.
